1056  64th  Contrut,  lit  ix»ian 


HOMESTEAD  OF 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
'1916 


SPEECHES 

IN  THE 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL  5,  12,  1916 

ON  A  BILL  TO  ACCEPT  A  DEED  OF  CONVEYANCE 
FROM  THE  LINCOLN  FARM  ASSOCIATION  TO 
THE   UNITED   STATES    OF   THE    HOME- 
STEAD OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  NEAR 
THE  TOWN  OF  HODGENVILLE, 
STATE   OF   KENTUCKY 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 
HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


H.  Doc.  1056 


64lh  Congress,  I  si  Session 


HOMESTEAD  OF 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


APRIL  5,  12,  1916 

ON  A  BILL  TO  ACCEPT  A  DEED  OF  CONVEYANCE 
FROM  THE  LINCOLN  FARM  ASSOCIATION  TO 
THE   UNITED   STATES    OF   THE    HOME- 
STEAD OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  NEAR 
THE  TOWN  OF  HODGENVILLE, 
STATE   OF  KENTUCKY 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1916 


[H.  Res.  200,  Sixty-fourth  Congress,  first  session.] 

CONGRESS  of  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

HOUSE  OP  REPRESENTATIVES, 

April  12,  1916. 

Resolved,  That  the  speeches  delivered  on  H.  R.  8351  and  the  bill  in 
relation  thereto,  accepting  from  the  LINCOLN  FARM  ASSOCIATION  title  of 
the  farm  on  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born,  be  printed  as  a  House 
document,  ten  thousand  copies  to  be  distributed  among  the  Members 
equally  through  the  folding  room. 
Attest: 

SOUTH  TRIMBLE, 

Clerk. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Resolution  of  authority  to  print 2 

Act  (H.  R.  8351)  accepting  deed  of  conveyance 5 

Preliminary  proceedings  in  the  House 7 

Remarks  by — 

Mr.  McKinley,  of  Illinois 1 1 

Mr.  Fess,  of  Ohio 15,  75 

Mr.  Clark,  of  Florida 19 

Mr.  Eagle,  of  Texas 21 

Mr.  Rainey,  of  Illinois 25, 89 

Mr.  Crisp,  of  Georgia 29 

Mr.  Foster,  of  Illinois 33 

Mr.  Cannon,  of  Illinois 39 

Mr.  Sherwood,  of  Ohio 55 

Mr.  Smith,  of  Minnesota 61 

Mr.  Hicks,  of  New  York 65 

Mr.  Russell,  of  Missouri 69 

Mr.  Sloan,  of  Nebraska 71 

Mr.  Switzer,  of  Ohio 77 

Mr.  Dale,  of  Vermont 79 

Mr.  B'arkley,  of  Kentucky % 83 

Mr.  Madden,  of  Illinois 97 

Mr.  Harrison,  of  Mississippi 107 


64th  Congress!  TT      "D 

ist  session.  /  **•    •**•• 


AN  ACT 

To  accept  a  deed  of  gift  or  conveyance  from  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association, 
a  corporation,  to  the  United  States  of  America,  of  land  near  the  town  of 
Hodgenville,  county  of  Larue,  State  of  Kentucky,  embracing  the  home- 
stead of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  and  the  log  cabin  in  which  he  was  born, 
together  with  the  memorial  hall  inclosing  the  same;  and  further,  to 
accept  an  assignment  or  transfer  of  an  endowment  fund  of  $50,000  in 
relation  thereto. 

.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  United 
States  of  America  hereby  accepts  title  to  the  lands  mentioned 
in  the  deed  of  gift  or  conveyance  now  in  possession  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  together  with  all  the 
buildings  and  appurtenances  thereon,  especially  the  log  cabin 
in  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born  and  the  memorial  hall 
inclosing  the  same,  which  deed  or  conveyance  was  executed  on 
the  day  of  ,  nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  by 

the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  a  corporation,  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  describing  certain  lands  situated  near  the 
town  of  Hodgenville,  county  of  Larue,  State  of  Kentucky, 
which  lands  are  more  particularly  identified  and  described  in 
said  deed  or  conveyance.  The  title  to  such  lands,  buildings, 
and  appurtenances  is  accepted  upon  the  terms  and  conditions 
stated  in  said  deed  or  conveyance,  namely:  That  the  land 
therein  described,  together  with  the  buildings  and  appurte- 
nances thereon,  shall  be  forever  dedicated  to  the  purposes  of  a 
national  park  or  reservation,  the  United  States  of  America 
agreeing  to  protect  and  preserve  the  said  lands,  buildings,  and 
appurtenances,  and  especially  the  log  cabin  in  which  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN  was  born  and  the  memorial  hall  inclosing  the  same, 
from  spoliation,  destruction,  and  further  disintegration,  to  the 
end  that  they  may  be  preserved  for  all  time,  so  far  as  may  be; 
and  further  agreeing  that  there  shall  never  be  any  charge  or 
fee  made  to  or  asked  from  the  public  for  admission  to  the  said 
park  or  reservation. 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

SEC.  2.  That  the  United  States  of  America  hereby  also  accepts 
title  to  the  endowment  fund  of  $50,000  mentioned  in  the  assign- 
ment and  transfer,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  which  assignment  and  transfer 
was  executed  on  the  day  of  ,  nineteen  hundred 

and  thirteen,  by  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  a  corporation,  to 
the  United  States  of  America,  transferring  and  turning  over  all 
its  right,  title,  and  interest  in  and  to  said  endowment  fund,  here- 
tofore invested  in  certain  stocks,  bonds,  and  securities  held  and 
owned  by  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  and  more  particularly 
identified  and  described  in  said  assignment  and  transfer.  The 
title  to  said  endowment  fund  is  accepted  upon  the  terms  and 
conditions  stated  in  said  assignment  and  transfer,  namely,  that 
the  United  States  of  America  shall  forever  keep  the  said  tract 
of  land  described  in  said  deed,  together  with  the  buildings  and 
appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  dedicated  to  the  purpose 
of  a  national  park  or  reservation,  and  that  there  shall  never  be 
any  charge  or  fee  made  to  or  asked  from  the  public  for  admis- 
sion to  the  said  park  or  reservation;  and  further,  shall  forever 
protect,  preserve,  and  maintain  said  land,  buildings,  and  appur- 
tenances, and  especially  the  log  cabin  in  which  ABRAHAM  LIN- 
COLN was  born  and  the  memorial  hall  inclosing  the  same,  from 
spoliation,  destruction,  and  further  disintegration,  to  the  end 
that  they  may  be  preserved  for  all  time,  as  far  as  may  be,  as  a 
national  park  or  reservation. 

SEC.  3.  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America 
and  the  Secretary  of  War  are  hereby  authorized  to  execute,  in 
the  name  of  the  United  States  of  America,  such  instrument  or 
instruments  as  may  be  or  may  become  necessary  to  comply 
with  or  carry  out  the  terms  and  conditions  of  such  gift  or  gifts 
and  to  secure  the  full  benefit  therefrom. 

SEC.  4.  That  upon  the  passage  of  this  act  and  the  vesting  of 
the  title  to  the  property  accepted  thereunder  in  the  United 
States,  it  shall  be  under  the  control  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  administered  under  such  regulations  not  inconsistent  with 
law  as  he  may  from  time  to  time  prescribe. 

Passed  the  House  of  Representatives  April  12,  1916. 

Attest : 

SOUTH  TRIMBLE, 

Clerk. 


HOMESTEAD  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


SPEECHES  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  APRIL  5  AND  12,  1916,  ON 
BILL  TO  ACCEPT  DEED  OF  CONVEYANCE  FROM  LINCOLN  FARM  ASSOCIATION 
TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  Clerk  will  call  the  committees. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida  (when  the  Committee  on  the  library 
was  called).  Mr.  Speaker 

The  SPEAKER.  Is  the  gentleman  making  a  report  from  the 
Committee  on  the  Library? 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Yes,  sir;  I  desire  to  call  up  the  bill 
H.  R.  8351. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  Clerk  will  report  the  bill  by  title. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

A  bill  (H.  R.  8351)  to  accept  a  deed  of  gift  or  conveyance  from  the  Lincoln 
Farm  Association,  a  corporation,  to  the  United  States  of  America  of  land 
near  the  town  of  Hodgenville,  county  of  Larue,  State  of  Kentucky,  embrac- 
ing the  homestead  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  and  the  log  cabin  in  which  he 
was  born,  together  with  the  memorial  hall  inclosing  the  same;  and,  further, 
to  accept  an  assignment  or  transfer  of  an  endowment  fund  of  $50,000  in 
relation  thereto. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  House  will  automatically  resolve  itself 
into  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  House  on  the  state  of  the 
Union. 

Accordingly  the  House  resolved  itself  into  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole  House  on  the  state  of  the  Union  for  the  consideration 
of  the  bill  H.  R.  8351 ,  a  bill  to  accept  a  deed  of  gift  to  homestead 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  with  Mr.  Earnhardt  in  the  chair. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  ask  unanimous  con- 
sent that  the  first  reading  of  the  bill  be  dispensed  with. 

Mr.  CANNON.  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  bill  had  better 
be  read. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  Does  the  gentleman  object  ? 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  ah  am    Lincoln 

Mr.  CANNON.  I  do.  I  think  it  should  be  read. 
The  CHAIRMAN.  The  Clerk  will  report  the  bill. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  That  the  United  States  of  America  hereby  accepts 
title  to  the  lands  mentioned  in  the  deed  of  gift  or  conveyance  now  in  pos- 
session of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  together  with 
all  the  buildings  and  appurtenances  thereon,  especially  the -log  cabin  in 
which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born  and  the  memorial  hall  inclosing  the 

same,  which  deed  or  conveyance  was  executed  on  the  —  day  of ,  1913, 

by  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  a  corporation,  to  the  United  States  of 
America,  describing  certain  lands  situated  near  the  town  of  Hodgeiiville, 
county  of  Larue,  State  of  Kentucky,  which  lands  are  more  particularly 
identified  and  described  in  said  deed  or  conveyance.  The  title  to  such 
lands,  buildings,  and  appurtenances  is  accepted  upon  the  terms  and  con- 
ditions stated  in  said  deed  or  conveyance,  namely,  that  the  land  therein 
described,  together  with  the  buildings  and  appurtenances  thereon,  shall 
be  forever  dedicated  to  the  purposes  of  a  national  park  or  reservation,  the 
United  States  of  America  agreeing  to  protect  and  preserve  the  said  lands, 
buildings,  and  appurtenances,  and  especially  the  log  cabin  in  which  ABRA- 
HAM LINCOLN  was  born  and  the  memorial  hall  inclosing  the  same,  from 
spoliation,  destruction,  and  further  disintegration,  to  the  end  that  they 
may  be  preserved  for  all  time,  so  far  as  may  be;  and  further  agreeing  that 
there  shall  never  be  any  charge  or  fee  made  to  or  asked  from  the  public  for 
admission  to  the  said  park  or  reservation. 

SEC.  2.  That  the  United  States  of  America  hereby  also  accepts  title  to 
the  endowment  fund  of  $50,000  mentioned  in  the  assignment  and  transfer, 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
which  assignment  and  transfer  were  executed  on  the  —  day  of  —  — ,  1913, 
by  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  a  corporation,  to  the  United  States  of 
America,  transferring  and  turning  over  all  its  right,  title,  and  interest  in 
and  to  said  endowment  fund,  heretofore  invested  in  certain  stocks,  bonds, 
and  securities  held  and  owned  by  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  and  more 
particularly  identified  and  described  in  said  assignment  and  transfer.  The 
title  to  said  endowment  fund  is  accepted  upon  the  terms  and  conditions 
stated  in  said  assignment  and  transfer,  namely,  that  the  United  States  of 
America  shall  forever  keep  the  said  tract  of  land  described  in  said  deed, 
together  with  the  buildings  and  appurtenances  thereunto  belonging,  dedi- 
cated to  the  purpose  of  a  national  park  or  reservation,  and  that  there  shall 
never  be  any  charge  or  fee  made  to  or  asked  from  the  public  for  admission 
to  the  said  park  or  reservation;  and,  further,  shall  forever  protect,  preserve, 
and  maintain  said  land,  buildings,  and  appurtenances,  and  especially  the 
log  cabin  in  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born  and  the  memorial  hall 
inclosing  the  same,  from  spoliation,  destruction,  and  further  disintegration, 
to  the  end  that  they  may  be  preserved  for  all  time,  as  far  as  may  be,  as  a 
national  park  or  reservation. 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  ah  am    Lincoln 

SEC.  3.  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  the 
Secretary  of  State  are  hereby  authorized  to  execute,  in  the  name  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  such  instrument  or  instruments  as  may  be  or 
may  become  necessary  to  comply  with  or  carry  out  the  terms  and  con- 
ditions of  such  gift  or  gifts  and  to  secure  the  full  benefit  therefrom. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  desire  to  yield  to  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  McKinley]  such  time  as  he  may 
desire. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  McKinley] 
is  recognized. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  McKINLEY,  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  Chairman,  some  8  or  10  years  ago  a  number  of  citizens  of 
Kentucky  and  others  scattered  over  the  United  States  formed 
an  association  for  the  purchase  of  the  farm  and  log  cabin  in 
which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born,  located  2^  miles  from 
Hodgenville,  Ky. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  report  of  the  committee  covers  the  matter 
very  fully,  and  I  will  ask  that  the  Clerk  read  the  report. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  Clerk  will  read  the  report. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

[House  of  Representatives,  Report  No,  221,  Sixty-fourth  Congress,  first  session.]! 
TO   ACCEPT   DEED   OP   GIFT   TO   HOMESTEAD   OF   ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

Mr.  McKinley,  from  the  Committee  on  the  Library,  submitted  the  follow- 
ing report,  to  accompany  House  bill  8351: 

The  Committee  on  the  Library,  to  whom  was  referred  House  bill  8351, 
having  considered  the  same,  now  reports  it  back  to  the  House  with  the 
recommendation  that  it  do  pass. 

The  purpose  of  the  bill  is  to  authorize  the  United  States  to  accept  as  a 
gift  not  only  the  cabin  in  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born,  but,  in 
addition  thereto,  the  farm  upon  which  he  was  born;  and,  also,  an  endow- 
ment fund  made  up  as  follows:  $44,000  (par  value)  city  of  Louisville,  Ky., 
4>^  per  cent  bonds,  due  in  1951;  $2,000  (par  value)  city  of  Louisville,  Ky., 
3  per  cent  bonds. 

The  present  market  value  of  these  bonds  is  nearly  $50,000. 

A  magnificent  marble  memorial  hall  has  been  erected  and  incloses  the 
cabin  which  stands  near  the  spring,  where  it  stood  when  LINCOLN  was 
born. 

On  the  farm  is  a  substantial  residence  and  other  buildings,  occupied 
by  the  superintendent  of  the  farm.  The  farm  comprises  about  137  acres. 

Those  who  have  saved  the  homestead  of  LINCOLN  from  the  ownership 
of  those  who  might  have  exploited  it  for  commercial  purposes  have  also 
saved  the  log  cabin  in  which  he  was  born,  and  have  inclosed  it  in  the 
Memorial  Hall,  which  will  forever  preserve  it  from  decay.  They  have 
also  cleared  the  farm  of  brush  and  undergrowth,  have  rebuilt  boundary 
fences,  have  made  a  beautiful  park  immediately  around  Memorial  Hall, 
and  have  endowed  the  farm  with  a  fund  sufficient  to  maintain  it.  Having 
done  all  this,  they  feel  that  they  have- fulfilled  their  undertaking,  .and  now 
suggest  that  the  Nation  take  it  over  as  a  gift,  and  see  to  it  that  LINCOLN'S 
birthplace  is  preserved  for  all  future  generations. 

Already  thousands  of  people  from  all  over  the  country  visit  the  place 
every  year.  It  is  anticipated  that  future  years  will  see  this  number  be- 
come multiplied  over  and  over. 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

The  property  has  an  income  of  more  than  $2,000  a  year  from  the  endow- 
ment fund  alone  and  is  self-sustaining. 

The  present  holders  of  the  fee  simple  title  have  executed  a  deed  of  con- 
veyance, in  fee,  to  the  United  States,  which  is  held  by  the  President 
pending  the  passage  of  this  bill. 

The  committee  most  earnestly  recommends  the  passage  of  this  bill. 
In  fact,  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  unanimously  adopted. 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  almost  a  blessing 
that,  because  of  the  necessities  of  LINCOLN'S  parents,  so  many 
of  us  could  have  received  inspiration  and  encouragement  from 
a  sort  of  neighborliness  to  the  scenes  of  his  early  struggles.  I 
have  always  been  glad  and  proud  that  I  was  born  within  a  mile 
of  old  Salem,  where  young  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  lived  and  worked 
and  studied  and  loved.  He  went  to  central  Illinois  at  the  age 
of  21  without  trade  or  profession,  without  money  or  influence, 
without  a  patron  or  friend,  and  there  began  his  real  career — a 
career  not  equaled  in  all  history.  There  he  began  his  first 
profitable  work;  there  he  began  his  political  trend;  there  he 
began  his  earnest  study  of  law  and  history  and  statecraft  and 
men ;  there  he  gave  his  first  love  and  met  his  first  great  sorrow. 
When  the  young  and  gracious  Ann  Rutledge  was  taken  by 
death,  brought  on  by  a  shadow  of  a  former  love,  LINCOLN'S 
great  heart  went  out  in  his  own  sadness  and  loss,  and  no  doubt 
the  sweet  nature  of  his  life  found  its  birth  where,  as  he  himself 
said,  his  heart  was  buried.  But  deep  as  was  his  grief  he  set  out 
with  an  indomitable  will  to  master  every  obstacle. 

History  has  recited  the  progress  of  our  immortal  statesman 
and  you  are  all  familiar  with  the  names  of  his  associates, 
McClernand,  Stuart,  Hay,  Ninian  and  Ben  Edwards,  Dr.  Jayne, 
Judge  Logan,  and  others  to  whose  talk  I  listened  when  a  boy. 
I  need  not  say  that  all  this  is  the  fondest  memory  of  my  life, 
and  I  allude  to  it  as  an  illustration  of  the  wealth  of  aspiration 
ever  possessed  by  the  youth  of  our  land  in  the  wonderful  and 
mighty  example  given  us  by  young  LINCOLN  as  he  fought  the 
battles  of  early  manhood.  In  all  history  there  is  no  parallel 
to  the  greatness  that  came  from  such  lowliness,  save  in  the  life 
of  our  Redeemer.  No  one  could  have  had  a  more  humble 
birth  than  LINCOLN;  no  one  could  have  had  a  more  obscure 
childhood;  no  one  could  have  had  such  early  struggles  of  body, 


12    . 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  a  ham    Lincoln 

mind,  and  soul  as  did  the  LINCOLN  who  afterwards  became 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  characters  of  all  the  ages. 

Every  monument  and  temple  and  highway  dedicated  to  his 
name  bears  witness  to  his  nature,  his  character,  his  courage,  and 
his  achievements.  His  life  path,  began  in  such  simplicity, 
merged  into  a  bravery  that  knew  no  disheartening  and  that 
carried  him  to  sublime  heights  of  glory.  We  do  well,  then,  to 
continue  to  honor  him  and  to  keep  fresh  the  memory  of  the 
various  stages  of  his  life's  progress  from  birth  to  the  grave. 

By  industry  and  honesty,  through  hardship  and  suffering,  in 
peace  and  in  war,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  made  for  himself  and  for 
us  the  most  glorious  pattern  of  all  humanity.  His  birthplace 
will  now,  more  than  ever,  become  a  mecca  of  American  youth 
and  their  elders,  and  we  can  rejoice,  indeed,  that  in  the  wisdom 
of  Providence  there  has  been  given  us  for  example  and  recital 
such  illustration  of  the  possibilities  of  attainment  from  poverty 
and  lowliness.  With  LINCOLN  as  a  guide  there  should  be  no  fail- 
ure, no  discouragement,  no  giving  up  of  purpose  and  attempt. 
All  can  not  reach  the  same  heights,  but  all  can,  as  LINCOLN  did, 
try  for  the  best  that  opportunity,  diligence,  and  undaunted  zeal 
afford.  He  was  given  to  us  not  only  for  the  performance  of  his 
tasks,  not  only  for  the  results  of  his  wondrous  mind,  but  for  the 
influence  that  must  ever  come  from  such  an  example  of  all  that 
goes  to  make  useful  citizens,  masterful  men,  and  helpful  com- 
rades. In  every  element  that  goes  toward  the  molding  of  the 
highest  and  best  characteristics  that  serve  in  the  mightiest  pur- 
poses of  life,  LINCOLN  will  ever  stand  out  clear  and  distinct,  not 
only  as  a  foremost  American  but  as  a  leader  of  all  humanity. 

Our  eulogies  and  tributes,  our  memories  and  monuments,  can 
never  repay  our  debt  to  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  But  they  do  and 
will  serve  to  keep  first  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  our  people  his 
sweet  and  tender  nature,  his  sturdy,  rugged  will,  his  persistent 
and  successful  struggles,  and  the  splendid  example  to  each  and 
all  of  us  who  love  to  turn  to  his  life  work  and  learn  a  devotion  to 
duty  and  right  that  can  well  be  emulated  by  all. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  I  yield  to  the  gentleman  from  Ohio, 
Mr.  Chairman,  10  minutes. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Fess]  is  recog- 
nized for  10  minutes. 

13 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  FESS,  OF  OHIO 

Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  no  sentiment  that  could  stir  the  hearts 
of  America  more  than  a  sentiment  in  honor  of  the  memory  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  and  I  know  of  no  occasion  when  that  senti- 
ment expressed  would  be  more  appropriate  than  upon  the  oc- 
casion of  the  offer  of  this  property  as  a  gift  to  the  National 
Government,  to  care  for  it. 

Some  men  place  themselves  in  history  by  what  they  say, 
others  by  what  they  do,  and  still  a  few  others  by  what  they 
both  say  and  do.  I  have  thought  that  the  author  of  "Sartor 
Resartus"  never  need  to  have  done  anything  to  have  placed 
himself  in  history.  The  same  might  be  said  of  the  author  of 
the  "Pickwick  Papers,"  or  of  the  author  of  "Julius  Caesar," 
and  the  "Merchant  of  Venice."  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
man  who  has  accomplished  what  such  men  as  Edison  have  done 
would  never  need  to  add  to  his  accomplishments  by  anything 
that  he  might  say,  for  he  would  be  remembered,  not  by  what 
he  said,  but  by  what  he  did. 

But  in  the  case  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  he  fixes  his  place  in 
history  by  what  he  has  said  and  also  by  what  he  has  done.  The 
man  who  said  "A  house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand," 
probably  said  what  would  fix  for  him  a  permanent  place  in 
history;  or  "Broken  by  it  I,  too,  may  be,  but  bow  to  it  I  never 
will,"  that  would  also  have  given  him  a  place  in  history;  or  when 
he  said  "Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this 
mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away,"  or  when  he 
said  "With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with 
firmness  in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  go 
on  with  this  work,"  he  uttered  statements  that  would  perma- 
nently fix  his  place  in  history.  These  are  but  few  of  many  that 
might  be  recalled,  any  one  of  which  is  significant  in  historical 
meaning.  But  when  we  add  to  those  beautiful  deliverances 
some  things  that  he  did,  we  have  additional  grounds  for  assign- 
ing him  a  great  place  in  history. 

387% '-16 2  !<; 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

Our  Capital  City  of  Washington  will  always  be  remembered 
as  the  place  of  his  greatest  utterances  and  his  greatest  deeds. 
The  sixties  will  be  the  time  to  which  the  historian  will  hark 
back  for  LINCOLN'S  achievements.  History  will  deal  most 
widely  with  him  as  the  great  President,  the  war  President. 
Emancipation  will  be  recorded  as  his  greatest  victory  for  human 
rights.  The  preservation  of  the  Union  must  be  written  down  as 
his  crowning  glory.  But  we  to-day  will  turn  back  in  our  mind, 
away  from  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  away  from  the  sixties  in 
time,  away  from  civilization  as  we  knew  it  in  the  city  and  in 
the  older  countries,  to  the  realm  of  the  pioneer,  to  the  State 
of  Kentucky,  that  had  only  recently  been  settled.  We  turn  away 
from  the  time  and  place  of  his  notable  utterances  and  famous 
achievements  to  the  then  unknown  western  country.  We  will 
think  not  so  much  to-day  of  the  distinguished  citizen  as  of  the 
babe  in  the  State  of  Kentucky ;  not  so  much  of  the  head  of  the 
grandest  Republic  on  earth  as  of  the  child  of  the  wilderness; 
not  so  much  of  the  famous  emancipator  as  of  the  boy  stricken 
with  poverty;  not  so  much  of  the  preserver  of  the  Union  as  of 
the  one  with  universal  inspiration  to  every  boy  and  girl  of 
America.  We  are  looking  from  here,  the  seat  of  power  and  the 
arena  of  influence,  back  to  those  days  of  sorrow  and  impotence; 
and  if  to-day  we  could  transplant  ourselves  back  in  Kentucky 
to  the  year  of  1809  and  had  the  vision  to  peer  into  the  future 
so  as  to  see  the  road  that  he  traveled,  what  a  vision  of  oppor- 
tunity would  open  to  us. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  fellow  Members  of  the  House,  I  think  it 
is  a  beautiful  occasion  that  while  we  are  concerned  about  his 
achievements  for  humanity  we  here  and  now  choose  for  a  mo- 
ment to  dwell  upon  those  early  days,  that  we  fix  his  beginning 
as  well  as  emphasize  his  ending,  and  instead  of  thinking  too 
frequently  of  the  White  House  which  he  occupied,  think  more 
often  of  the  log  cabin  in  which  he  was  born.  It  is  the  boyhood 
time  rather  than  the  manhood  that  appeals  to  us  to-day. 

Here  is  a  proposition  that  gives  us  the  opportunity  to  dwell 
upon  the  childhood,  upon  the  poverty-stricken  family;  it  has  to 
do  with  his  birthplace,  where  he  lived  the  first  seven  years  of 
his  life,  the  farm  over  which  his  parents  trod  and  on  which 


16 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

they  labored;  and  I  know  of  no  picture  so  touching  as  when  the 
little  family  of  four  left  this  home  and  started  for  the  Ohio 
River,  which  they  crossed  and  went  beyond  17  miles,  there, 
together — the  father,  the  mother,  the  little  brother,  and  the 
sister,  two  years  his  elder — built  the  little  cabin  in  the  woods 
with  their  own  hands,  a  cabin  of  but  three  sides,  in  which  they 
dwelt  that  first  year.  This  picture  of  privation  loses  its  sting 
in  the  wonderful  years  of  opportunity  soon  to  open  to  the  boy 
of  that  small  group. 

It  is  to  those  early  days  that  our  hearts  naturally  hark  back 
at  this  time  when  there  is  here  presented  by  our  colleague,  a 
distinguished  son  of  Kentucky,  the  Representative  of  the  dis- 
trict in  which  is  located  his  birthplace,  this  opportunity  to  re- 
ceive this  gift.  As  a  Member  of  this  Congress,  I  desire  to  offer 
my  vote  of  congratulation  and  gratitude  to  the  State  that  gave 
the  Nation  its  LINCOLN  and  which  now  proposes  to  donate  to  it 
his  birthplace  as  a  perpetual  memorial  to  his  memory.  This 
contribution,  not  so  much  from  the  State  as  the  people  in  the 
State,  is  by  this  proposed  resolution  the  most  recent  effort  to 
make  it  possible  that  the  Nation  itself  might  preserve  the 
beginnings  of  the  life  of  America's  greatest  citizen. 

I  look  upon  him  as  the  first,  the  last,  the  best,  the  greatest 
in  comprehension,  the  broadest  in  statesmanship,  the  sweetest 
in  disposition,  and  the  deepest  in  humanity  of  all  this  western 
world.  And  while  history  will  care  for  his  memory,  and  while, 
in  the  words  of  Stajiton,  his  great  Secretary,  "he  now  belongs 
to  the  ages,"  it  is  a  beautiful  thing  for  this  Congress  to  do  what 
will  prevent  our  forgetting  his  beginnings.  His  ending  in  being 
a  great  statesman  will  always  be  commemorated.  His  career 
is  secure.  His  achievements  are  common  knc-vledge.  Their 
brilliancy  must  not  blind  us  to  the  unpromising  beginnings. 
This  proposition  will  connect  his  greatness  as  he  left  us  with 
the  simple  beginning  of  his  life  and  will  help  to  refresh  the 
future  generations  with  the  inspiration  of  American  oppor- 
tunity. For  that  reason  I  want  to  speak  my  favor  of  the 
reception  of  this  gift  by  those  whose  hearts  are  filled  with  grati- 
tude toward  the  memory  of  this  great  man.  [Prolonged 
applause.] 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  CLARK,  OF  FLORIDA 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  was  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  that  I 
voted  in  the  Committee  on  the  Library  to  report  this  bill 
favorably  to  the  House,  and  I  want  to  state  that  it  was  an 
absolutely  unanimous  report. 

We  are  now  constructing  within  the  city  of  Washington  a 
great  memorial  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  LINCOLN.  Out  in  Illinois — 
at  Springfield,  the  capital  of  the  State — stands  a  great  monu- 
ment to  his  memory.  It  is  proposed  by  this  bill  to  preserve 
for  future  generations  the  place  of  his  birth.  The  honor  to  be 
done  this  great  man  would  not  be  complete,  it  seems  to  me, 
without  some  such  action  as  this.  I  am  glad  that  this  bill  is 
here,  and  trust  that  there  will  be  an  absolutely  unanimous 
vote  for  it.  I  want  to  say  that  it  augurs  well  for  this  great 
Republic  that  the  man  who  introduced  this  bill,  who  has  been 
furthering  its  progress  before  the  committee  and  upon  this 
floor  [Mr.  Johnson  of  Kentucky],  is  the  son  of  the  man  who 
raised  the  first  Confederate  flag  that  fluttered  in  the  breezes 
of  Kentucky.  [Applause.]  This  action  bespeaks  more  emphat- 
ically and  more  strongly  than  any  language  could  the  fact 
that  we  are  an  absolutely  united  people,  under  one  flag,  with 
one  country,  and  all  of  us  loving  to  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  now  yield  10  minutes  to  the  gentleman  from 
Texas  [Mr.  Eagle].  [Applause.] 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  EAGLE,  OF  TEXAS 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  will  afford  me  sincere  pleasure  to  vote  for 
this  measure,  by  which  the  United  States  will  accept  a  deed  of 
gift  for  the  land  upon  which  and  the  humble  log  cabin  in  Ken- 
tucky in  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  born. 

All  of  my  life  I  have  lived  in  the  far  South.  All  of  my  life  I 
have  heard  and  shared  those  sentiments  of  tenderness,  of  devo- 
tion, and  of  reverence  which  all  of  my  people  feel  for  the  heroes 
of  the  "Lost  Cause."  That  sentiment  which  has  more  pro- 
foundly touched  my  spirituality,  in  pathos  and  in  tenderness, 
than  any  other  sentiment  has  been  the  beautiful  devotion  of 
the  thinning  ranks  of  the  Confederate  armies  and  of  their  fami- 
lies and  descendants,  for  the  memory  of  the  time  when  they 
risked  life,  fortune,  and  everything  that  life  holds  dear,  ex- 
cepting honor  and  their  sense  of  duty  for  a  cause  that  went 
down  honorably  in  gloom  and  defeat  upon  the  field  of  war. 
And  yet  throughout  my  blessed  Southland  everywhere,  among 
the  noble  men  and  glorious  women  who  make  up  that  chivalric 
and  beautiful  civilization,  never  in  my  life  have  I  heard  any 
sentiment  except  one  of  admiration  and  sympathy  for  the  mar- 
tyred ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  [Applause.] 

It  is  a  happy  occasion  of  rejoicing  that  no  longer,  as  in  the 
days  of  our  fathers,  is  there  any  estrangement  or  any  bitter- 
ness. I  rejoice  with  men  in  this  Chamber  from  every  section  of 
this  glorious  Union  that  now  there  is  peace  not  only  in  fact  but 
mutual  sympathy  and  fellowship  as  well,  and  that  in  the  future 
there  will  be  no  patriotism  limited  alone  to  North  or  South  or 
East  or  West,  and  that  everywhere  we  feel  the  same  common 
devotion  to  the  same  flag  and  the  same  aspiration  for  the  glory 
of  a  common  country.  [Applause.] 

Many  years  after  the  Civil  War,  when  Jefferson  Davis  had 
been  denied  citizenship  because  as  President  of  the  fallen  Con- 
federacy he  had  been  but  the  spokesman  and  chosen  leader  for 
many  millions  of  people,  when  he  had  never  once  opened  his 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

mouth  to  speak  in  public  and  had  during  the  20  years  after  the 
war  never  once  written  or  said  publicly  or  privately  one  word 
of  bitterness  concerning  that  tragic  time,  a  meeting  was  held 
in  his  honor  in  Jackson,  Miss.,  where  a  veteran  of  the  lost 
cause,  upon  either  side  of  the  tottering,  venerable,  and  beloved 
old  man,  helped  him  up  the  steps  of  the  capitol  in  the  midst 
of  a  throng  of  tens  of  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children 
who  held  his  name  in  veneration.  They  said,  "Mr.  Davis, 
at  least  once  before  you  pass  away  let  your  people  hear  your 
voice  again."  For  once  he  broke  his  silence,  and  he  said  in  sub- 
stance simply  this:  "My  friends,  I  am  legally  an  alien  in  the 
land  of  my  birth,  but  I  thank  God  that  I  yet  live  in  the  affec- 
tionate hearts  of  my  devoted  countrymen." 

It  was  a  scene  the  like  of  which  rarely  has  been  witnessed 
upon  this  earth,  where  men  and  women  and  little  children  by  the 
thousands  wept  as  if  their  hearts  would  break.  Throughout 
the  years  of  his  life  after  the  war  Jefferson  Davis  was  every- 
where in  the  South  treated  with  veneration.  When,  in  death, 
his  body  was  conveyed  to  its  final  resting  place  in  Richmond, 
the  people  gathered  along  the  route  at  the  farms,  villages,  and 
cities,  and,  without  flags  or  cannon  for  salute,  still  paid  him 
reverence  with  silent  forms,  bared  heads,  and  eyes  dimmed 
with  tears.  And  when  you  men  of  the  North  come  to  realize 
that  a  people  as  tremendous  in  their  emotional  nature,  as 
intensely  convinced  in  their  judgment  as  the  southern  people 
in  their  mass  were  convinced  that  they  were  right,  can  yet  with 
a  loyalty  undivided  remain  happy  and  contented  and  patriotic 
citizens  of  a  reunited  country,  contributing  the  best  there  is  in 
them  to  a  common  cause,  and  can  without  division  pay  affection 
and  devotion  and  admiration  and  reverence  to  the  martyred 
President,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  who  led  the  ether  side  of  that 
controversy,  you  and  your  people  should  always  have  respect 
and  affection  for  our  glorious  southern  people  and  civilization. 
[Applause.] 

I  believe  that  in  all  history  the  two  lives  which,  written  upon 
paper  or  recited  as  tradition,  excite  the  most  interest  are 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Since  I  was  a 
little  boy,  born  and  reared  over  in  the  backwoods  of  Kentucky, 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

and  since  as  a  young  man  of  17  I  moved  out  to  Texas,  there  has 
never  been  a  time  when  the  life  and  the  story  and  the  tragedy, 
the  pathos  and  the  humor  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  have  not 
fascinated  me.  [Applause.]  As  the  years  come  and  go,  and 
more  and  more  clearly  men  are  able  properly  to  estimate  his 
mind  and  character,  the  name  and  fame  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
will  be  more  and  more  secure  in  that  sacred  hall  of  world  fame 
where  only  the  towering  figures  of  history  dwell.  [Applause.] 
And  in  the  Nation  he  helped  so  largely  to  preserve,  now  the 
blessed  heritage  of  ourselves  and  our  children  and  our  children's 
childien,  his  great  spirit  will  always  live  as  an  inspiration  to 
guide  its  life  toward  that  noble  destiny  of  freedom  and  happiness 
which  was  the  dream  of  our  fathers  when  they  set  it  upon  its 
noble  career.  [Long-continued  applause.] 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  10  minutes  to 
the  gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Rainey], 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  RAINEY,  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  to  vote  for 
this  bill.  It  is  appropriate  that  the  birthplace  of  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN  in  a  Southern  State  shall  be  preserved  by  the  National 
Government  for  all  time  to  come.  The  long  journey  the  boy 
LINCOLN  undertook  when  he  left  this  Kentucky  farm  ended 
finally  at  the  village  of  New  Salem,  111.,  in  the  congressional  dis- 
trict I  have  the  honor  now  to  represent.  To  the  boy  LINCOLN 
and  to  those  who  surrounded  him  and  influenced  his  early  career 
there  came  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  the  call  which 
came  to  the  South  and  to  the  East  alike,  the  call  of  the  West. 

To  the  West,  to  the  West,  to  the  land  of  the  free, 
Where  the  great  Mississippi  rolls  down  to  the  sea, 
Where  a  man  is  a  man  if  he  is  willing  to  toil, 
And  the  humblest  may  share  in  the  fruits  of  the  soil. 

Following  this  call  of  the  West,  LINCOLN  finally,  after  years 
of  travel,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1830  reached  the  frontier 
village  of  New  Salem,  on  the  Sangamon  River,  and  he  spent 
there  the  formative  years  of  his  life.  The  village  disappeared 
long  ago,  but  some  time  I  hope  to  see  established  on  the  beautiful 
bluff  along  the  river,  where  New  Salem  stood,  another  national 
park,  and  I  hope  to  see  a  real  LINCOLN  highway  following  the 
route  he  took,  connecting  the  place  of  his  birth,  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  with  the  spot  where  he  spent  the  formative  years  of 
his  life,  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  where  his  great  career  com- 
menced. 

At  the  time  the  call  of  the  West  came  to  the  boy  LINCOLN  the 
call  of  the  West  reached  another  boy  living  under  the  shadow 
of  the  spire  of  the  village  church  in  the  village  of  Brandon,  Vt., 
and  a  little  while  later  Douglas  started  for  the  Illinois  country. 
He  came  down  the  rivers  and  canals  in  flat  boats,  through  the 
long  forest  avenues  in  ox  carts,  pursuing  the  same  method  of 
travel  that"  LINCOLN  pursued.  And  three  years  after  the  ar- 
rival of  LINCOLN  at  New  Salem,  Douglas  reached  the  frontier 
village  of  Winchester,  20  miles  away  in  Illinois,  also  in  the  con- 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

gressional  district  that  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  And 
there,  separated  by  20  miles  of  woodland,  these  two  young  men 
spent  the  formative  years  of  their  lives.  One  of  them,  frail  of 
stature,  acted  as  auctioneer's  clerk,  taught  school,  and  studied 
law  in  the  village  of  Winchester;  the  other,  robust  of  body, 
clerked  in  a  country  store,  conducted  the  village  post  office, 
fought  the  Clarys  Grove  boys,  and  studied  law  at  the  same 
time  in  the  village  of  New  Salem. 

The  strangely  parallel  career  of  these  two  young  men  com- 
menced at  that  time.  .  They  were  in  the  Legislature  of  Illinois 
at  the  same  time.  They  were  admitted  to  practice  law  at  the 
same  time.  LINCOLN'S  law  partner  was  a  candidate  against 
Douglas  for  Congress.  LINCOLN  would  have  been  the  candidate 
were  it  not  for  this  fact.  Both  served  in  Congress  at  the  same 
time,  LINCOLN  following  Douglas  to  this  body.  Douglas  was 
promoted  to  the  Senate  and  acquired  an  international  reputa- 
tion. LINCOLN  served  only  one  term,  and,  discouraged,  returned 
again  to  private  life  and  to  the  practice  of  the  law.  He  re- 
mained in  the  practice  of  the  law  until  1858,  when  the  strangely 
parallel  career  of  these  two  great  leaders  of  men  commenced 
again. 

They  were  both  opposing  candidates  for  the  United  States 
Senate  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  representing  different  parties,  and 
together  canvassed  the  entire  State.  Their  debates  will  remain 
in  the  history  of  debates  of  this  character  famous  as  long  as 
the  English  language  is  spoken.  But  the  result  of  that  campaign 
was  again  discouraging  to  LINCOLN.  The  great  Douglas  was 
triumphantly  elected. 

Two  years  later  they  were  opposing  candidates  for  the  Presi- 
dency. The  result  of  that  campaign  left  the  towering  form  of 
LINCOLN  standing  alone  on  the  horizon.  One,- a  cavalier  of  the 
Southland,  became  the  leader  of  the  party  which  was  opposed  to 
the  South.  The  other,  a  Puritan  of  Puritans,  became  the  leader 
of  the  party  which  found  its  greatest  strength  in  the  South. 
They  were  both  loyal  to  the  Union  until  the  very  last.  One  of 
them  died  just  as  the  guns  rang  out  along  the  longest  battle  line 
the  world  had  ever  known.  The  other  died  just  at  the  close  of 
that  long  War  between  the  States. 


26 


Homestead    o  f  A  br a  ham    Lin  co  In 

In  the  city  of  Springfield,  111.,  a  granite  column,  the  granite 
coming  from  the  State  where  Douglas  was  born,  marks  the  spot 
where  LINCOLN  lies.  In  the  city  of  Chicago,  where  the  waters 
of  Lake  Michigan  ripple  on  the  shore,  a  white  marble  column 
marks  the  spot  where  Douglas  lies.  Some  day  we  can  honor 
Douglas  in  this  country  without  detracting  anything  from  the 
position  LINCOLN  occupies  and  must  always  occupy.  They  will 
rank  throughout  time  as  two  of  our  greatest  citizens  and  states- 
men. '  [Applause.] 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  I  yield  to  the  gentleman  from  Georgia 
[Mr.  Crisp]. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  CRISP,  OF  GEORGIA 

Mr.  Chairman,  as  a  southern  man  and  the  son  of  a  southern 
soldier,  I  simply  desire  to  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to 
express  my  pleasure  in  having  an  opportunity  to  vote  for  this 
bill.  The  district  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  lies  away  down 
South  in  Dixie,  and  I  know  my  people  entertain  and  cherish  for 
President  LINCOLN  the  greatest  admiration  and  kindest  feeling. 
My  father  was  himself  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  he  has  said 
to  me  on  many  occasions  that  the  worst  thing  that  ever 
happened  for  the  South  was  when  President  LINCOLN  was 
assassinated. 

Before  the  war  Gen.  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  was  at  one  time 
Speaker  of  this  House,  and  he  was  also  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury. He  was  a  general  in  the  Confederate  Army.  He  has  a 
son,  a  probate  judge,  in  my  county,  who  was  on  his  father's 
staff  in  the  Confederate  Army.  I  have  in  my  office  a  short 
communication  sent  me  by  Judge  Cobb  eulogizing  President 
LINCOLN,  the  article  also  giving  his  father's  views  and  opinion 
on  the  assassination  of  President  LINCOLN.  I  ask  unanimous 
consent  to  extend  my  remarks  in  the  Record  by  inserting  the 
article. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  Georgia  asks  unani- 
mous consent  to  extend  his  remarks  in  the  Record  in  the  man- 
ner stated.  Is  there  objection? 

There  was  no  objection. 

The  article  is  as  follows : 

EDITOR  TIMES-RECORDER: 

The  coming  of  the  governor,  his  staff,  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  other  distinguished  citizens  of  Illinois  to  unveil  the 
monument  to  their  soldier  dead  at  Andersonville  brings  up  memories  of 
the  past  connected  with  a  man  from  their  State  whom  they  loved  and 
honored  and  are  proud  to  claim  as  having  come  from  Illinois;  and  it  seems 
proper  that  these  memories  should  be  given  some  public  expression  at 
this  time. 

29 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

I  refer  to  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Although  he  wore  no  handsome  uniform 
with  epaulets  and  gold  braid,  was  he  not  a  soldier?  He  was  Commander 
in  Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States.  Forty-seven  years 
ago,  in  April,  1865,  my  father,  Maj.  Gen.  Howell  Cobb,  commanded  the 
Confederate  forces  of  the  department  of  Georgia.  I  was  a  member  of  his 
military  staff,  and  was  standing  near  him  one  day  when  he  received  an 
official  telegram.  When  he  read  it  his  face  turned  as  white  as  a  sheet, 
and  throwing  up  both  hands  he  exclaimed,  "My  God!  Lincoln  has  been 
assassinated;  this  is  the  greatest  calamity  that  could  have  befallen  our 
people."  How  true  were  his  words  and  prediction  time  has  too  fully 
proven. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  assassination  of  LINCOLN  inflamed  the  north- 
ern heart  and  created  bitterness  against  the  southern  people  at  that  critical 
period,  and  gave  the  opportunity  to  the  extreme  fanatical  element  of  the 
North  to  shape  the  policy  of  the  Government  in  dealing  with  the  Southern 
States  after  the  surrender  of  Lee 's  and  Johnston 's  armies.  And  this  brings 
us  to  consider  what  might  have  been. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  a  great,  good,  and  wise  man,  with  a  big,  loving 
heart.  He  always  held  that  the  Southern  States  were  never  out  of  the 
Union.  He  had  the  love,  confidence,  and  respect  of  his  people,  and  if 
he  had  lived  his  policies  would  have  been  carried  out — a  request  from 
him  to  the  Southern  States  to  elect  their  Senators  and  Representatives, 
send  them  to  Washington,  and  again  become  a  part  of  a  reunited  Union 
of  sovereign  and  independent  States.  We  would  not  have  gone  through 
the  farce  of  reconstructing  what  he  claimed  had  never  been  divided. 

We  would  not  have  had  the  manacling  of  Jefferson  Davis,  thereby  wring- 
ing the  heart  of  a  great  and  brave  people  by  putting  this  humiliation  on 
their  chieftain,  whom  they  all  loved,  honored,  and  admired,  when  they 
were  helpless  to  protect  or  defend  him.  The  Southern  people  would  not 
have  had  to  go  through  the  trying,  expensive,  and  humiliating  times  of 
so-called  "reconstruction."  The  Freedman's  Bureau  and  its  antitwin, 
the  Ku  Klux  Clan,  would  never  have  been  heard  of,  and  the  dove  of  peace 
with  the  olive  branch  of  brotherly  love  nearly  50  years  after  would  not 
still  be  hovering  in  midair,  wanting  to  proclaim — what  all  good  and  true 
men  in  this  entire  Nation  earnestly  wish  and  pray  for — a  united  and  loyal 
people,  knowing  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West. 

JOHN  ADDISON  COBB. 

The  SPEAKER.  This  is  Calendar  Wednesday,  and  the  unfin- 
ished business  is  the  bill  (H.  R.  8351)  to  accept  a  deed  of  gift  or 
conveyance  from  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association,  a  corporation, 
to  the  United  States  of  America  of  land  near  the  town  of  Hodg- 
enville,  county  of  Larue,  State  of  Kentucky,  embracing  the 
homestead  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  and  the  log  cabin  in  which  he 
was  born,  together  with  the  memorial  h  all  inclosing  the  same 


Homestead    o  f  A  b  r  ah  am    Lincoln 

and  further,  to  accept  an  assignment  or  transfer  of  an  endow- 
ment fund  of  $50,000  in  relation  thereto. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  ask  unanimous  con- 
sent that  in  addition  to  the  time  allowed  under  the  rule  for  gen- 
eral debate,  one  hour  be  added,  one  half  to  be  controlled  by  the 
gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  McKinley]  and  the  other  half  by 
myself. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  gentleman  from  Florida  asks  unanimous 
consent  that  the  general  debate  on  the  bill  H.  R.  8351  be 
extended  to  three  hours,  one  half  to  be  controlled  by  himself  and 
the  other  half  by  the  gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  McKinley]. 
Is  there  objection? 

There  was  no  objection. 

The  SPEAKER.  The  House  will  automatically  resolve  itself 
into  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  House  on  the  state  of  the 
Union  for  the  further  consideration  of  the  bill. 

Accordingly,  the  House  resolved  itself  into  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole  House  on  the  state  of  the  Union  for  the  further  consid- 
eration of  the  bill  H.  R.  8351,  with  Mr.  Barnhart  in  the  chair. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  believe  when  the 
committee  rose  on  last  Wednesday  1  had  15  minutes  remaining? 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  had  18  minutes  remaining. 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  five  minutes  to 
the  gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Foster]. 


387%  °— 1C 3  31 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  FOSTER,  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  very  glad  to  support  this  bill,  which 
provides  for  the  acquiring  by  the  Federal  Government  the  birth- 
place of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  If  this  bill  becomes  a  law,  it  will 
forever  preserve  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  birth- 
place of  this  illustrious  and  greatly  beloved  man  who  stood  not 
only  for  the  preservation  of  the  free  institutions  of  our  own 
country  but  was  an  example  for  all  the  world.  His  birthplace 
was  a  log  cabin  and  his  parents  were  humble  though  respectable 
people.  His  useful  and  honorable  life  well  demonstrates  to 
the  world  what  a  man  may  accomplish  for  himself  in  this 
country  by  building  up  character,  integrity,  and  unselfish  work 
in  the  interests  of  the  people.  Mr.  LINCOLN  did  not  have  the 
opportunity  of  an  education  in  any  great  college  or  university 
but  he  did  learn  the  value  of  character,  the  principle  of  fair 
dealing,  and  recognized  the  rights  of  humanity.  He  came  from 
Kentucky  to  Indiana  and  then  to  Illinois  at  an  early  age  and 
followed  surveying,  was  postmaster  and  a  village  merchant  in 
New  Salem,  Menard  County.  He  studied  law,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  practiced  his  chosen  profession,  going  from  court 
to  court,  or,  as  it  was  known  in  that  early  day,  by  riding  the 
circuit.  Many  of  those  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  early 
life  and  practiced  law  with  him  became  famous  as  lawyers  and 
occupied  responsible  places,  not  only  in  Illinois,  but  in  the 
Nation.  Nearly  all  of  the  associates  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  in 
Illinois  at  that  early  time  have  passed  away.  There  is,  how- 
ever, in  this  House  one  who  knew  Lincoln,  practiced  law  with 
him  as  a  young  man  on  the  circuit  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State  along  the  Wabash  River.  I  refer  to  Hon.  Joseph  G. 
Cannon,  ex-Speaker  and  at  present  a  Member  of  this  House. 


33 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  ah  am    Lincoln 

Mr.  Cannon  also  had  the  distinction  of  being  present  at  one  of 
the  great  joint  debates  which  took  place  between  LINCOLN  and 
Douglas,  at  Charleston,  111.,  in  1858.  These  debates  between 
these  intellectual  giants  will  never  be  forgotten  by  the  people 
of  Illinois,  and  each  spot  where  these  men  met  to  discuss  the 
great  issues  then  before  the  people  has  been  carefully  marked, 
that  they  might  be  preserved  throughout  all  time.  Mr.  LINCOLN 
was  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  in  1836  and  1837,  which 
met  in  the  city  of  Vandalia.  The  old  statehouse  is  still  there 
and  now  used  as  a  courthouse.  Among  those  who  served  with 
him  in  that  legislature  and  afterwards  became  distinguished 
were  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  James  Shields,  Archy  Williams, 
Ninian  Edwards,  John  J.  Hardin,  Jesse  K.  Dubois,  John  A. 
McClernand,  and  Usher  F.  Linder,  and  others  that  might  be 
mentioned.  He  also  served  in  the  legislature  of  1838-1840. 
Mr.  LINCOLN  did  not  specially  distinguish  himself  during  his 
term  of  service  in  the  legislature,  but  did  take  an  active  interest 
in  local  affairs  in  the  State.  He  afterwards  became  a  Member 
of  Congress,  serving  one  term  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  stirring  times  which  brought  on  the  LiNCOLN-Douglas 
debates  in  1858  throughout  the  State  of  Illinois,  in  which  they 
held  joint  discussions  in  every  congressional  district  of  the 
State,  developed  great  interest  in  the  questions  of  that  time, 
which  then  divided  the  North  and  South,  and  made  Mr.  LINCOLN 
famous  throughout  the  Nation  and  had  much  to  do  with  making 
him  President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  LINCOLN  was  a  re- 
markable man  in  the  fact  that  he  never  seemed  to  hold  revenge 
or  resentment  against  a  man  in  the  world.  His  kindly  disposi- 
tion toward  those  who  differed  with  him  in  what  he  believed 
to  be  right  was  one  of  the  strong  characteristics  of  his  nature. 
Many  harsh  and  unkind  things  were  said  about  Mr.  LINCOLN 
as  a  public  man,  and  he  was  severely  criticized  in  his  public  acts 
as  President,  but  with  all  the  abuse  which  was  heaped  upon  him 
it  did  not  cause  him  to  return  this  ill  treatment  or  say  any 
unkind  things.  No  President  of  our  country  ever  suffered 
more  anxiety  in  regard  to  the  welfare  of  the  Nation  than  he, 


34 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

and  no  one  ever  bore  it  with  greater  fortitude.  When  we  read 
of  his  life  and  the  many  slanderous  things  said  of  him  one  some- 
times wonders  how  he  was  ever  able  to  bear  up  under  it  all. 
It  seems  that  our  Presidents  must  many  times  remain  silent 
during  severe  criticism.  Theirs  is  the  welfare  of  the  Nation, 
and  they  have  a  duty  to  perform  as  its  Chief  Executive  and 
must  not  turn  from  the  right  as  they  see  it,  however  much  they 
may  be  criticized.  People  are  often  too  prone  to  criticize  a 
President  for  partisan  purposes;  not  only  was  this  the  case  in 
LINCOLN'S  time,  but  down  to  the  present.  LINCOLN  did  not 
hesitate  to  change  his  mind  whenever  he  was  convinced  it  was 
for  the  best  interest  of  the  country  to  do  so,  but  every  time  he 
did  so  he.  was  abused  for  it.  He  was  personally  abused,  yet 
all  this  criticism  failed  to  change  his  nature,  but  he  went  forward 
determined  to  perform  his  duty  as  he  saw  it.  He  did  not 
spend  his  time  abusing  those  who  indulged  in  abuse  of  him, 
but  went  about  his  work  determined,  as  he  said — 

With  malice  toward  none  and  charity  for  all  to  do  the  right  as  God  gives 
us  the  power  to  see  the  right. 

His  chief  desire  was  to  preserve  the  Union,  that  our  country 
might  be  united  and  the  flag  once  more  be  the  emblem  of  liberty 
for  all  the  people  in  every  part  of  this  Republic.  His  solicitude 
for  the  welfare  of  the  individual  soldier  was  many  times  demon- 
strated during  those  long  four  years  by  his  kindness,  and  his 
sympathy  and  encouragement  to  those  who  were  unfortunate  in 
losing  their  relatives  and  friends  in  the  Army  was  well  known 
to  all.  His  memorable  speech  at  Gettysburg  will  live  as  long  as 
time  lasts  as  one  of  the  greatest  ever  delivered  in  all  the  history 
of  the  world.  His  second  inaugural  address  showed  in  every 
word  his  determination  to  prosecute  the  war  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion and  save  the  Union,  and  our  duty  when  the  battle  was 
over  to  care  for  those  who  fought  for  our  country,  but  to  forgive 
those  who  fought  on  the  other  side.  He  recognized  they  were 
our  brothers  and  our  own  people,  and  if  this  country  was  to 
again  be  united  we  must  treat  them  as  such.  They  fought  for 
what  they  believed  right,  and  when  the  surrender -at  Appo- 


35 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lin  co  In 

mattox  took  place  the  Old  Flag  was  again  acknowledged  as  the 
emblem  of  peace  and  liberty,  and  we  can  all  say — 

Your  flag  and  our  flag, 

And  how  it  floats  to-day 
O  'er  your  land  and  my  land 

And  half  the  world  away. 

Blood  red  and  rose  red, 

Its  stripes  forever  gleam ; 
Snow  white  and  soul  white, 

The  good  forefathers'  dream. 

Sky  blue  and  true  blue, 

With  stars  that  beam  aright; 
A  gloried  guidon  of  the  day, 

A  shelter  through  the  night. 

Your  flag  and  my  flag — 

Oh,  how  much  it  holds 
Your  heart  and  my  heart 

Secure  within  its  folds. 

Your  heart  and  my  heart 

Beat  quicker  at  the  sight; 
Sun  kissed  and  wind  tossed, 

The  red  and  blue  and  white.  . 

The  one  flag!    The  great  flag! 

The  flag  for  me  and  you ! 
Glorified,  all  else  beside, 

The  red  and  white  and  blue. 

It  was  unfortunate  for  the  North,  but  more  especially  for 
the  South,  that  he  should  have  been  taken  away  at  a  time  when 
his  service  was  so  much  needed  in  reconstructing  that  devas- 
tated portion  of  our  country  which  had  suffered  the  ravages 
of  war.  Had  he  lived,  it  is  believed  that  the  unfortunate  con- 
dition which  resulted  after  the  close  of  the  war  would  never 
have  taken  place.  He  held  no  enmity  to  the  South,  but  it  was 
believed  his  love  and  solicitude  for  the  people  there  was  such 
that  the  outrages  committed  after  peace  was  declared  would 
never  have  taken  place  had  he  been  permitted  to  serve  out  his 
term  and. give  his  assistance  to  the  people  in  rebuilding  their 
homes  and  country.  To-day  our  country  is  happy,  indeed,  in 
the  knowledge  that  we  had  an  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  during  those 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

trying  times.  The  people  of  Illinois  are  proud  that  they  fur- 
nished to  this  country  and  to  all  the  world  an  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
who  preserved  this  Union  that  they  who  follow  after  him  might 
enjoy  these  blessings  of  a  happy  and  a  united  country  and  that 
our  country  will  be  a  beacon  light  to  all  the  world  as  a  land  of 
liberty.  Let  us  preserve  these  blessings  to  all  our  people. 
We  can  not  be  true  to  the  flag  unless  we  are  true  to  the  principles 
for  which  the  flag  stands.  We  are  all  thankful  that  there  is  no 
sectional  feeling  within  our  borders  and  the  bitterness  of  1861 
and  1865  is  gone,  and  that  men  meet  without  sectional  quarrel 
and  only  with  kindly  feeling  to  each  other.  We  thank  God 
that  upon  this  floor  those  from  the  South  are  here  to  speak  in 
praise  of  LINCOLN.  They  had  their  heroes  in  battle  whom  they 
praise.  Why  should  they  not?  Shall  they  be  criticized  for 
doing  so?  Their  loved  ones  fought  for  the  cause  they  believed 
just,  and  many  lost  their  lives  on  the  battle  field.  The  example 
of  the  life  and  character  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  is  an  inspiration 
to  every  individual  to  put  forth  his  best  efforts  for  his  country. 
Times  may  come  when  people  take  sides  upon  great  questions 
and  contend  for  what  they  conceive  to  be  the  best,  and  it  is  right 
that  such  should  be  the  case  with  every  true  American.  With 
such  questions  settled  by  the  majority,  they  acquiesce  in  what  is 
best  for  the  greatest  number.  In  no  other  way  can  our  Republic 
be  preserved.  We  should  emulate  the  life  and  character  of  this 
illustrious  martyr  that  we,  too,  may  render  some  valuable  service 
to  our  country.  Let  us  not  endeavor  to  take  from  society  in 
this  world  without  giving  something  in  return.  With  rights  and 
privileges  come  responsibility.  We  should  do  our  part.  Let 
us  perform  our  work  so  that  it  may  be  said  of  us,  "We  have 
fought  a  good  fight  and  have  kept  the  faith." 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  is  gone,  but  the  inspiration  of  his  life  will 
live  forever.     [Applause.] 

Mr.  McKiNLEY.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  such  time  as  he  desires 
to  the  gentleman  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Cannon].     [Applause.] 


37 


REMARKS  BY  JOSEPH  G.  CANNON,  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  Chairman,  LINCOLN  was  born  in  Kentucky,  if  I  recollect 
right,  on  the  i2th  day  of  February,  1809.  No  one  could  have 
dreamed  what  his  future  would  be.  They  have  found  the  log 
cabin  where  he  was  born,  the  place  upon  which  it  stood,  the 
farm  upon  which  his  father  failed  to  make  a  living,  and  it  has 
been  purchased  and  endowed  with  $50,000  and  is  now  tendered 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  It  is  meet  and  proper 
in  my  judgment  that  this  bill  should  pass.  We  are  building  a 
great  memorial  here  in  the  city  of  Washington  to  LINCOLN,  and 
I  am  glad  of  it,  as  is  everyone,  but  that  memorial,  located  just 
beyond  the  Washington  Monument,  marks  his  service  as  a 
lawyer,  as  a  statesman,  as  President.  That  memorial  is  not  so 
high  as  the  Washington  Monument,  but  it  is  broader  and  longer. 
It  is  not  dwarfed  by  the  Washington  Monument,  nor  by  the 
Capitol,  nor  should  it  be.  But,  after  all,  if  he  had  not  been 
born  he  would  not  have  been  President.  I  am  not  a  believer 
in  special  providences,  but  if  I  were  I  would  say  that  he  was 
born  with  a  mission.  Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  an  old  Greek 
myth  that  one  of  the  tasks  of  Hercules  was  to  meet  and  over- 
come Antaeus. 

He  ascertained  that  the  secret  of  Antaeus's  strength  was 
that  every  time  he  touched  the  earth  his  strength  was  renewed. 
So,  placing  his  arms  about  him,  he  held  him  up  in  the  air  until 
he  died  for  the  want  of  sustenance.  The  Greek  myths,  many 
of  them,  tell  the  story  of  strength  renewed  by  touching  the 
earth.  We  all  understand  that  in  this  country,  and,  in  fact, 
in  all  countries,  in  the  main  the  men  who  lead  in  achievements 
are  of  the  generation  or  near  to  a  generation  that  has  touched 
the  earth.  [Applause.] 

The  genesis  of  LINCOLN  was  a  happy  one.  The  family  moved 
over  into  Indiana  on  the  way  to  Illinois.  They  halted  first  in 
Indiana,  and  then  settled  in  Illinois,  in  the  county  of  Coles,  and 
then  over  in  the  county  of  Menard.  He  was  a  boatman,  then  a 


39 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

surveyor,  a  merchant,  soon  became  a  lawyer,  and  a  successful 
one,  and  went  to  the  legislature.  He  had  everything  in  com- 
mon with  the  people  of  the  borderland.  Politician  as  well  as 
lawyer,  though  not  a  reformer,  he  was  a  partisan.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Whig  Party,  and  one  of  his  principal  opponents 
at  the  bar  in  the  early  days  was  Mr.  Douglas.  Douglas  forged 
ahead,  came  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  elected  and 
reelected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  became  the 
leader  of  his  party,  being  a  wonderfully  strong  man. 

LINCOLN  was  ambitious.  He  possessed  a  law  practice  that 
would  not  be  counted  lucrative  now,  although  it  abounded  in  a 
large  number  of  cases.  If  fees  had  been  paid  then  of  the  size 
of  the  fees  now,  with  the  amount  now  involved,  he  would  have 
had  a  wonderful  income.  Judge  Davis,  upon  whose  circuit  he 
practiced,  told  me  that  the  largest  fee  which  Mr.  LINCOLN  ever 
received  was  $5,000,  in  a  litigation  for  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
way, touching  the  7  per  cent  of  the  gross  earnings  that  went 
into  the  treasury  of  the  State  and  freeing  the  railway  from 
taxation.  Mr.  LINCOLN  was  successful  for  his  client,  and  held 
his  breath  and  charged  $5,000,  but  had  to  sue  the  corpora- 
tion to  make  it  pay.  Mr.  Davis,  afterwards  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  told  me  that  Mr.  LINCOLN 
never  before  had  received  such  a  fee,  and  rarely  as  much  in  the 
aggregate  as  $5,000  a  year. 

He  had  his  equipment  for  his  afterlife  work.  Born  in  Ken- 
tucky, he  came  to  Illinois,  which  was  settled  in  the  central  and 
southern  portions  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina, 
and  Virginia  principally.  For  a  long  time  settlements  were 
sparse  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  although  there  was  a 
considerable  settlement  there  from  the  East.  But  the  early 
settlements  were  mostly  from  the  Southland.  There  came  some 
Democrats  and  some  Whigs,  about  evenly  divided  in  politics, 
and  they  used  to  say  when  they  spoke  of  the  Kentuckians — 
Whigs,  Democrats,  strong  partisans — that  the  Kentuckian  took 
his  politics  like  he  did  his  whisky,  namely,  straight.  And  so 
it  was. 

Mr.  LINCOLN  became  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  after  the 
passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill.  In  1858  Mr.  Douglas 


4o 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  co  In 

being  a  candidate  to  succeed  himself,  he  was  Mr.  LINCOLN'S 
opponent;  and  this  was  the  issue,  in  substance:  LINCOLN  was 
not  an  abolitionist ;  nor  was  Douglas,  for  that  matter.  Douglas 
was  for  squatter  sovereignty;  that  is  to  say,  LINCOLN  took  the 
position  that  slavery  was  not  national;  that  it  was  sectional, 
and  that  a  State  when  it  came  in,  or  even  after  it  came  in, 
could  legalize  slavery,  but  that  in  the  national  domain  there  was 
no  law  to  protect  the  property  where  it  was  invested  in  the 
slave,  the  South  taking  the  position  that  it  was  property,  and 
therefore  it  was  entitled  to  protection  in  the  national  domain. 

Mr.  Douglas  said  that  he  would  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  neu- 
tral. Said  he,  "We  will  let  the  Territorial  legislature,  the  people 
of  the  Territory,  determine  whether  slavery  shall  exist  in  that 
Territory  or  not,  prior  to  its  admission  as  a  State,  if  it  be  ad- 
mitted as  a  State  afterwards.  And  the  contest  was  a  fierce 
one.  The  Whig  Party  was  divided  in  twain;  the  Democratic 
Party  in  the  North  was  divided  in  twain;  and  there  never  was, 
I  dare  say,  in  all  the  history  of  the  country  such  a  campaign 
as  was  made  by  Mr.  LINCOLN  and  Mr.  Douglas.  LINCOLN  held 
his  own,  but  Douglas  had  a  national  reputation.  LINCOLN'S 
reputation  was  as  a  lawyer  in  the  Middle  West,  north  of  the  Ohio 
River.  This  campaign  brought  him  to  public  notice  because  he 
could  hold  his  own  with  the  "Little  Giant."  It  was  the  foun- 
dation which  made  him  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  and 
which  resulted  in  his  election.  Of  all  men  living,  in  my  judg- 
ment there  was  no  man  in  the  United  States  who  was  so  well 
equipped  from  his  early  life  to  be  President  as  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN.  [Applause.] 

My  colleague,  Dr.  Foster,  said  that  I  had  known  LINCOLN 
and  attended  the  LiNCOLN-Douglas  debates  in  1858.  That  is 
true  in  a  measure.  As  a  young  man  I  met  LINCOLN  on  a  number 
of  occasions — on  the  ninth  judicial  circuit  of  Illinois,  at  the 
Illinois  convention  which  made  him  the  candidate  of  the  State 
for  President,  and  during  that  memorable  campaign  in  1860. 
I  attended  the  debate  between  LINCOLN  and  Douglas  at 
Charleston,  111.,  in  September,  1858.  The  prairies  of  central 
Illinois  were  vacant  that  day,  for  all  the  people  went  to  Charles- 
ton to  hear  the  two  champions  in  the  fourth  debate.  They  were 


Homestead    of   Abraham    Lincoln 

pretty  equally  divided  in  their  loyalty  to  the  two  men,  and 
in  that  section  at  that  time  men  were  virile  in  their  partisan- 
ship. There  were  banners  and  bands,  and  the  little  town  was 
overrun  with  people  from,  far  and  near.  The  meeting  was  held 
on  the  fair  grounds,  and  each  party  had  its  chairman  to  welcome 
its  leader  and  preside  together. 

It  was  at  that  meeting  that  LINCOLN  took  advantage  of 
Douglas  to  make  the  Democratic  chairman  testify  against  him. 
The  Hon.  O.  B.  Ficklin,  a  former  Representative  in  Congress,  was 
the  Democratic  chairman  and  had  welcomed  Douglas  and  intro- 
duced him  to  the  audience.  In  that  speech  Douglas  repeated 
his  charge  that  LINCOLN  had  refused  to  support  the  administra- 
tion's conduct  of  the  War  with  Mexico.  LINCOLN  had  denied 
this  charge  at  Freeport  and  at  Jonesboro,  but  when  it  was  re- 
peated at  Charleston  he  showed  that  old  human  trait  of  "get- 
ting even."  When  he  referred  to  the  charge  and  his  former 
denials,  he  whirled  about,  reached  out  his  long  left  arm,  and, 
taking  Chairman  Ficklin  by  the  collar,  yanked  him  out  of  his 
chair  and  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  much  as  an  old- 
fashioned  schoolmaster  brought  out  a  bad  boy  to  be  trounced. 
The  crowd,  anticipating  a  fight,  became  excited,  but  LINCOLN 
remarked:  "I  am  not  going  to  hurt  Col.  Ficklin;  I  only  call 
him  as  a  witness.  Now,  the  colonel  and  I  were  in  Congress  to- 
gether, and  I  want  him  to  tell  the  whole  truth  about  this  Mexi- 
can business."  Col.  Ficklin  was  in  an  embarrassing  place;  he 
told  the  audience  that  he  was  the  friend  of  both  Douglas  and 
LINCOLN  and  did  not  want  to  be  a  party  to  the  dispute,  but  that 
LINCOLN  had  voted  just  as  he  did  for  the  supplies  for  the  Army 
in  Mexico,  though  LINCOLN  had  voted  for  the  Ashmun  amend- 
ment, declaring  that  the  President  had  exercised  unconstitu- 
tional powers  in  beginning  the  war.  It  was  LINCOLN,  the  lawyer 
on  the  circuit,  compelling  the  witness  for  the  prosecution  to 
testify  for  the  defense. 

The  Republicans  were  wild  with  enthusiasm  and  the  Demo- 
crats disappointed  over  the  incident,  but  there  was  no  further 
disturbance,  and  the  adroitness  of  LINCOLN  disposed  of  the 
charge  that  he  had  been  disloyal  to  the  Army  in  refusing  to 
vote  the  necessary  supplies  to  the  troops  in  Mexico.  LINCOLN 
lost  in  that  senatorial  contest,  but  it  made  him  the  Republican 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  ah  am    Lin  co  In 

leader  in  1 860,  as  it  made  impossible  the  election  of  Douglas  to 
the  Presidency  by  dividing  his  party  on  the  slavery  question. 

LINCOLN  did  not  suit  the  extreme  North,  because  in  the  main 
it  was  extremely  radical,  with  the  Garrisons  and  the  Phillipses, 
and  many  others.  Of  course,  he  did  not  suit  the  extreme 
South,  because  there  too  was  radicalism;  but  when  you  came  to 
Missouri  and  Kentucky  and  portions  of  Tennessee,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Maryland,  there  was  a  di- 
vision almost  half-and-half.  They  were  virile  men.  The 
Caucasian  race  is  virile,  and  where  they  honestly  have  con- 
victions you  know  that  they  are  ready  to  fight  for  them. 
LINCOLN  knew  how  far  he  could  go  in  that  great  contest  with 
our  arms,  and  whether  he  could  succeed  or  not,  by  being  able 
to  keep  his  hand  upon  the  public  pulse  on  the  very  stage  where 
the  war  was  principally  conducted,  namely,  in  the  borderland. 
He  could  place  his  hand  upon  his  heart  beats,  shut  his  eyes, 
put  the  question  to  himself,  and  determine  what  it  was  neces- 
sary to  do  and  say,  and  receive  the  support  not  only  of  the 
Republicans,  but  the  Democrats  in  the  main,  strong  partisans 
as  they  were.  And  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  substantial  vote. 
We  all  know  what  happened  in  Missouri.  In  Kentucky  the 
Kentuckians  boast  that  their  quota  was  full  in  both  armies, 
which  was  true,  and  so  on  along  the  borderland.  There  were 
specks  of  war  at  times  in  Illinois  and  in  Indiana.  Battles  were 
fought,  one  or  two  in  the  district  that  I  now  represent,  in  the 
circuit  upon  which  LINCOLN  traveled,  between  men,  our  kind  of 
men,  our  blood — Americans. 

In  the  meantime  the  radicals  in  the  North  were  not  satisfied. 
They  said  he  went  too  slow.  Ministers  in  the  pulpit,  many  of 
them,  openly  said  he  was  not  performing  his  duty.  There  was 
an  abolition  sentiment  in  the  North;  the  farther  north  you  got 
the  stronger  the  abolition  sentiment.  It  was  not  so  strong  in 
the  borderland  as  it  was  in  New  England  and  in  New  York  and 
in  northern  Pennsylvania  and  northern  Ohio.  Delegations  of 
preachers  came  to  see  him  and  put  it  up  to  him:  "Why  don't 
you  free  the  slaves  ?"  They  said  the  Lord  had  sent  them.  He 
gave  them  this  answer,  in  substance :  "  It  seems  to  me  if  the  Lord 
had  a  communication  to  make  to  me,  I  being  chiefly  responsible 
as  leader,  He  would  give  it  to  me  direct."  [Laughter.] 


43 


Homestead    ofAbraham    Lin  c o  In 

Friends  of  his  grew  lukewarm.  I  read  the  weekly  New  York 
Tribune,  the  only  real  newspaper  we  had  in  our  township.  It 
came  in — two  or  three  hundred  copies — at  a  dollar  a  year. 
When  I  was  a  boy  it  was  a  great  champion  of  protection  and 
bore  testimony  against  slavery — a  radical.  And  yet  when  the 
real  trouble  came  Horace  Greeley  in  the  Tribune  said,  "Let 
the  erring  sisters  go  in  peace,"  and  quarreled  with  LINCOLN, 
because  LINCOLN  would  not  help  contribute  to  that  end.  And 
so  it  was  all  along  the  line. 

By  the  by,  will  you  bear  with  me?  I  do  not  want  to  weary 
you 

SEVERAL  MEMBERS.  Go  on ! 

Mr.  CANNON.  For  the  first  two  years  of  the  war  the  Union 
Army  did  not  have  great  success.  In  the  fullness  of  time  came 
Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  and  victory.  People  took  heart. 
Two  million  two  hundred  thousand  men,  most  of  them  enlisted, 
by  that  time  were  trained.  We  had  in  our  Army  more  than 
were  in  the  Confederate  Army.  We  greatly  exceeded  them  in 
number.  We  were  much  better  off.  We  had  more  of  railways  , 
than  they  had.  .  But  they  were  fighting,  do  not  you  see,  upon 
their  own  ground,  as  France  is  now  fighting.  It  is  easier  to 
defend  the  hearthstone  than  it  is  to  conquer  the  hearthstone. 
Well,  there  was  much  of  trouble.  People  in  the  North  wanted 
to  compromise.  In  the  South  they  did  not  want,  in  consider- 
able number,  to  compromise.  They  were  fighting  for  what  they 
conceived  to  be  their  rights  under  the  Constitution.  [Ap- 
plause.] LINCOLN,  you  recollect,  in  answering  one  of  his  letters 
in  1862,  said  to  Greeley: 

If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it;  and  if 
I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save 
it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that. 

Strange — he  was  criticized,  especially  in  the  Northland  as 
well  as  in  the  Southland.  He  was  reminded  that  the  Consti- 
tution guaranteed  property  in  the  slaves.  He  acknowledged  it. 
He  said : 

I  have  taken  an  oath  to  defend  the  Constitution;  but,  he  added  in  his 
homely  way,  was  it  possible  to  lose  the  Nation  and  yet  preserve  the  Con- 
stitution? By  general  law  life  and  limb  must  be  protected,  yet  often  a 
limb  must  be  amputated  to  save  a  life ;  but  a  life  is  never  wisely  given  to 
save  a  limb. 

44 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

And  in  the  time  of  war  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and 
the  preservation  of  the  Constitution,  when  it  became  necessary, 
laws  were  silent,  and  in  three  weeks  after  the  preachers  had 
visited  him  he  gave  notice  by  proclamation,  if  the  States  of  the 
South  did  not  return  to  their  allegiance  by  the  ist  of  January, 
as  a  war  measure  we  would  declare  the  slaves  free,  and  he  did. 

Now,  the  partisan  papers  of  the  North,  including  the  New 
York  World  and  the  New  York  Herald  and  Greeley  in  the  New 
York  Tribune,  were  firing  into  him.  Greeley  was  not  pleased — 
and  I  will  tell  you  about  that  a  little  later  on,  if  you  will  indulge 
me.  Those  partisan  newspapers  did  not  want  to  see  him  re- 
elected.  They  attacked  him  from  every  angle,  fiercely  and  vig- 
orously, not  striking  above  the  belt,  but  below  the  belt.  No 
man  in  my  time  was  abused  as  he  was  by  the  press.  But  it  did 
not  seem  to  bother  him.  He  did  not  complain.  It  was  won- 
derful how  the  papers  commended  and  patted  on  the  back  Fre- 
mont, who  was  our  first  leader  in  1856,  and  took  him  up  when 
the  radicals,  you  know,  held  a  convention  at  Cleveland.  The 
newspapers  were  full  of  Fremont's  candidacy,  and  the  radicals 
who  were  to  nominate  him  did  not  say  much  about  LINCOLN'S 
political  prospects.  I  sometimes  think  that  history  repeats  itself 
when  I  recollect  the  action  of  the  newspapers  of  that  time. 
Well,  I  will  not  come  nearer  speaking  of  more  recent  history. 
[Applause.] 

Greeley,  editor  of  the  greatest  Republican  paper  of  the  coun- 
try up  until  the  beginning  of  the  War  for  the  Union,  had  a  per- 
sonal grievance  against  LINCOLN.  When  the  convention  met  at 
Chicago,  with  factional  troubles  in  New  York,  Thurlow  Weed 
and  Seward  and  that  faction  prevailed  over  Greeley,  and  he 
could  not  go  to  the  convention  as  an  original  delegate,  but  he 
got  a  proxy  from  a  delegate  for  Oregon,  and  he  was  in  the  con- 
vention and  worked  for  the  nomination  of  LINCOLN.  LINCOLN 
elected,  Greeley  had  the  right  to  believe  that  he  ought  to  have 
been  in  his  Cabinet.  He  began  to  fight  and  find  fault.  The 
situation  grew  worse  and  worse.  LINCOLN  picked  Chase  and 
those  who  had  opposed  him  in  the  convention  for  nomination, 
including  Seward,  and  put  those  two  in  his  Cabinet.  The  great 
trouble  was  upon  Seward,  his  Secretary  of  State,  and  LINCOLN 


45 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  co  In 

said  to  Greeley's  friends:  "We  can  not  take  two  men  from  New 
York;  I  am  pursuing  this  policy."  The  politicians  did  not  see 
as  well  as  the  statesmen.  Greeley  became  aggrieved,  and  they 
fought  all  through  until  1864  came.  I  will  not  take  time  to  tell 
what  he  said  and  what  LINCOLN  said  in  reply.  It  is  good  read- 
ing. You  will  find  it  in  McPherson's  History  of  the  Rebellion. 

A  MEMBER.  Tell  that  story. 

Mr.  CANNON.  The  gentleman  says,  "Tell  that  story."  The 
surroundings  are  not  as  good  as  they  could  be  for  telling  that 
story — the  surroundings  are  good,  you  know,  but  we  are  all 
prohibitionists  now.  [Laughter.]  But  I  will  tell  that  story, 
if  you  will  indulge  me,  because  it  throws  a  strong  light  upon 
LINCOLN'S  character.  LINCOLN  was  nominated;  McClellan  was 
nominated;  LINCOLN  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  the 
prosecution  of  the  war.  And,  mind  you,  you  did  not,  down 
South,  have  anything  to  do  with  McClellan's  nomination.  He 
was  nominated  by  the  Democratic  North,  upon  a  platform  de- 
claring the  war  a  failure  and  advocating  an  armistice,  that  we 
might  preserve  the  Union  by  compromise.  LINCOLN,  in  his  char- 
acteristic way,  said,  referring  to  it  as  reported  in  conversation, 
"Suppose  we  were  to  try  to  compromise.  We  talked  about  that, 
and  many  people  tried  it  before  the  war  began.  But  can  one 
man  make  a  bargain?" 

Well,  it  looked  as  if  LINCOLN  was  to  have  a  hard  time  for  re- 
election. He  believed  that  he  ought  to  be  reelected.  The  Re- 
publicans believed  that  he  ought  to  be.  Many  Democrats  in  the 
North  believed  that  he  ought  to  be;  but  the  campaign  was  hot. 

For  four  or  six  years,  along  about  1878,  1879,  and  1880,  I  had 
a  colleague  in  the  House  here  by  the  name  of  Waldo  Hutchins. 
He  was  a  Democrat  at  that  time,  although  prior  to  Greeley's 
candidacy  for  the  Presidency  he  had  been  a  Republican.  In  the 
Greeley  campaign  he  became  a  Democrat,  voted  for  Greeley, 
and  then  later  was  elected  to  Congress  as  a  Democrat.  He  was 
a  strong,  honest,  square  man,  and  a  truthful  man,  I  have  no 
doubt.  He  knew  Mr.  LINCOLN  very  well.  Mr.  Hutchins  told 
me  that  one  evening  he  climbed  the  long  stairway  in  the 
Tribune  Building,  then,  I  believe,  the  highest  building  in  New 
York,  and  found  Greeley  in  his  office,  and  said,  "Mr.  Greeley, 
what's  the  news?" 

46 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  coin 

"Oh,  nothing,  nothing,"  said  Greeley. 

After  a  little  conversation  Greeley  said  to  Hutchins,  "There 
is  a  letter  I  received." 

Hutchins  said  he  took  the  letter  and  read  it,  and  it  was  from 
Mr.  LINCOLN'S  secretary,  addressed  to  Greeley,  and  it  said,  "The 
President  instructs  me  to  say  that  he  would  like  to  have  an  in- 
terview with  you,  and  as  matters  are  at  present  he  finds  it  im- 
possible to  get  away  from  Washington.  Is  it  asking  too  much 
to  ask  you  to  come  to  Washington?" 

The  letter  was  two  days  old.  Said  Hutchins  to  Greeley 
"Have  you  answered  the  letter?  Have  you  been  to  Washing- 
ton?" "  No,"  said  Greeley. 

"Why  don't  you  answer  it?" 

"Oh,  I  don't  care  to." 

Hutchins  told  me  that  he  grabbed  the  letter  and  said,  "  I  will 
take  it." 

Greeley  said,  "As  you  choose." 

Mr.  Hutchins  said  he  rushed  down  the  stairway  and  found  a 
hack,  and  said  to  the  driver,  "I  will  give  you  three  times  your 
fare  if  you  will  catch  the  last  boat  to  Jersey  City." 

The  driver  laid  on  the  whip,  and  Hutchins  caught  the  last 
boat  and  caught  the  train,  although  it  was  in  motion  when  he 
got  on  board  for  Washington.  Hutchins  came  to  Washington 
and  went  to  breakfast  at  the  Willard  Hotel.  Then  he  went  to 
the  White  House.  The  messenger  said,  "Why,  Mr.  LINCOLN 
can  not  see  you  now.  He  is  just  getting  up." 

Said  Mr.  Hutchins,  "I  must  see  him." 

"Oh,  well,  you  can  not  see  him  now.     It  is  impossible." 

Said  Hutchins,  "Take  this  card  to  the  President";  and  he 
told  me,  "I  scribbled  upon  my  card  that  I  had  come  in  conse- 
quence of  that  letter  that  his  secretary  had  written  to  Mr. 
Greeley." 

The  messenger  came  back  and  said,  "The  President  says  to 
show  you  up." 

"He  was  dressing,  and  we  talked,  and  I  told  him  what  Greeley 
had  said.  LINCOLN  said,  'I  am  glad  you  came.  Greeley  has 
a  just  grievance  from  his  standpoint  against  me.  He  voted 
for  my  nomination  and  advocated  my  election.  He  had  a  right 

387%°— 16 4  47 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

to  believe  that  he  would  be  recognized,  and  he  would  have 
been  under  ordinary  conditions,  but  under  the  conditions  as 
they  then  were  and  now  are  I  could  not,  performing  my  duty  as 
President,  ask  him  to  be  a  member  of  my  Cabinet.  I  believe 
I  shall  be  reelected.  I  believe  I  ought  to  be.  God  knows  if 
it  were  not  for  the  sense  of  duty  that  I  owe  to  the  people  and 
to  civilization  I  could  not  be  hired  to  be  President.  If  I  am 
reelected,  I  believe  it  will  be  but  a  short  time  until  this  great 
struggle  will  close.  Seward  is  a  great  man,  but  of  a  different 
faction  from  Greeley.  When  this  war  closes  we  will  have  great 
need  for  a  diplomat  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  We  have  a 
long  account  to  settle  with  Great  Britain.  Seward  has  per- 
formed great  service  as  Secretary  of  State.  I  believe  he  could 
perform  better  service  as  ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St.  James. 
By  the  by,  Franklin  perhaps  was  the  greatest  man  that  ever 
lived  in  this  country — philosopher,  statesman,  scientist.  He 
was  Postmaster  General  under  the  Confederation.'  ' 

Hutchins  said,  "Yes;  so  he  was." 

LINCOLN  said,  "Franklin  was  a  printer.  Greeley  is  a  printer. 
Do  you  know  I  believe  Greeley  would  make  a  good  Postmaster 
General.  I  think  I  am  right  in  saying  that  is  the  position  he 
would  rather  occupy  than  any  other." 

Hutchins  said,  "Am  I  at  liberty  to  say  that  to  Mr.  Greeley?" 

"Oh,  you  can  say  it,  but,  mind  you,  I  am  not  making  a 
promise  to  bind  me  in  the  constitution  of  my  Cabinet.  I  am 
telling  you  how  I  feel  toward  him  personally.  I  am  honest 
about  it." 

Hutchins  departed,  went  to  New  York  on  the  next  train, 
climbed  the  stairway  again,  and  repeated  the  conversation  to 
Mr.  Greeley.  Greeley  said,  "Did  LINCOLN  say  that?" 

"Yes." 

Without  another  word  Greeley  wheeled  in  his  chair,  sat  at 
his  desk,  and  for  20  minutes  wrote,  and  then  read  to  Hutchins 
that  greatest  of  all  bugle  calls  published  in  the  New  York 
Tribune,  which  I  think  did  much,  perhaps  more  than  all  the 
other  papers  put  together,  to  reelect  LINCOLN,  lining  up  the 
Republican  Party  from  the  standpoint  of  patriotism  and  the 
salvation  and  preservation  of  the  Union. 

48 


Homestead    o  f  A  b  r  a  ham    Lincoln 

Sequel:  Said  Mr.  Hutchins,  "The  day  before  Mr.  LINCOLN 
was  assassinated  I  got  another  letter  from  his  secretary  stating 
that  the  President  desired  to  meet  me,  and  asking  me  if  I 
would  come  to  Washington.  I  left  on  the  next  train,  the  same 
train  that  I  had  taken  in  September  or  October  before.  I  ar- 
rived in  Washington  in  the  morning,  and  when  I  got  off  the 
train  the  newsboys  were  crying  that  the  President  was  assassi- 
nated. I  have  no  doubt  on  earth  but  that  he  called  me  to 
Washington  to  tender  through  me  the  Postmaster  Generalship 
to  Mr.  Greeley." 

So  Mr.  LINCOLN  was  a  politician.  He  was  a  partisan,  but  he 
had  that  great  common  sense  as  a  leader  which  led  him  up  to 
the  preservation  of  the  Union.  Greeley  and  some  of  LINCOLN'S 
generals  and  some  members  of  LINCOLN'S  Cabinet  criticized  him. 
Some  members  of  his  Cabinet  were  perfectly  willing  to  take 
the  whole  thing  out  of  his  hands  and  run  the  Government.  He 
just  let  them  stay.  You  know  they  were  useful.  He  went  on  in 
the  even  tenor  of  his  way.  I  will  not  go  into  that  further.  You 
all  recollect  about  it  who  are  old  enough,  and  the  rest  of  you 
have  read  about  it.  Nobody  regarded  LINCOLN  as  a  hero  during 
that  great  contest.  His  recognition  as  of  heroic  mold  came  after 
his  death.  You  know  heroes  are  great  fellows.  Sometimes  the 
people  regard  them  as  heroes,  and  sometimes  they  proclaim 
themselves  as  heroes.  [Laughter.]  Let  me  say  to  you  that 
that  does  not  apply  to  one  party  alone.  There  are  other  pebbles 
on  the  beach.  [Laughter.]  With  his  great  good  sense,  with  his 
feet  in  the  soil,  with  no  collegiate  course,  God  made  him,  and  his 
associations  in  youth  and  manhood  had  been  such  that  he  was 
enabled  to  lead  and  lead  successfully. 

You  remember  what  George  William  Curtis  said  in  notifying 
LINCOLN  of  his  second  nomination: 

Amid  the  bitter  taunts  of  eager  friends  and  the  fierce  denunciation  of 
enemies,  now  moving  too  fast  for  some,  now  too  slow  for  others,  they  have 
seen  you  throughout  this  tremendous  contest  patient,  sagacious,  faithful, 
just,  leaning  upon  the  heart  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  and  satisfied  to 
be  moved  by  its  mighty  pulsations. 

By  the  by,  I  am  reminded  of  the  Gettysburg  speech.  Edward 
Everett  made  a  great  speech  there.  Everybody  was  listening 


49 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

to  Everett.  Nobody  knew  that  LINCOLN'S  little  three-minute 
speech  was  a  jewel.  It  was  not  said  to  be  a  jewel  until  long 
after  he  was  dead.  After  it  was  made  the  partisan  press  at- 
tacked it.  Some  of  them  said  it  was  ridiculous  and  vulgar. 
Well,  you  know  how  it  was  in  a  hot  campaign,  and  the  cam- 
paign was  very  hot  in  1864  in  the  Northland.  Yet  there  is  not 
one  schoolboy  in  a  hundred  in  the  United  States  in  a  high 
school  who  knows  that  Edward  Everett  made  the  principal 
address  on  that  occasion,  but  I  dare  say  that  ninety  out  of  a 
hundred  of  the  bright-faced  boys  and  girls  can  repeat  LINCOLN'S 
three-minute  Gettysburg  speech.  It  is  a  classic,  and  will  live 
when  you  and  I  are  dead  and  gone  and  forgotten. 

Then  take  the  letter  that  he  wrote  to  the  Irish  woman  in 
Boston,  who  lost  four  or  five  sons  in  defense  of  the  flag.  That 
was  a  wonderful  letter.  I  had  rather  have  the  capacity  to  write 
that  letter,  or  to  make  such  a  speech  if  the  occasion  arose,  than 
to  have  all  the  property  of  all  the  earth.  [Applause.] 

Now,  I  have  catch  heads  here  enough  to  last  me  a  long  time, 
but  I  have  talked  too  long.  [Go  on !  Go  on !]  Well,  not  much. 

Listen  to  one  of  the  radicals  during  the  campaign  of  1864. 
Wendell  Phillips  was  an  extreme  radical  of  the  North.  He 
said: 

If  William  Lloyd  Garrison  stood  in  the  President's  place  I  should  have 
no  fears.  Can  I  put  the  same  trust  in  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN?  In  the  first 
place,  remember  he  is  a  politician,  not  like  Mr.  Garrison,  a  reformer.  Poli- 
ticians are  like  the  foreleg  and  shoulder  of  a  horse,  not  an  upright  bone  in 
the  whole  column. 

[Laughter.] 

That  which  is  not  itself  crooked  stands  crooked — 
[Laughter.] 

and  but  for  the  beast,  could  not  move.  Reformers  are  like  Doric  columns. 
Might  may  crush  them,  but  can  neither  bend  nor  break. 

I  suppose  a  reformer  has  his  place.  I  sometimes  think  they 
get  pretty  thick.  They  say  that  their  province  is  to  fight  with 
the  Almighty,  that  the  Almighty  and  one  are  a  majority.  Well, 
they  have  their  place.  I  am  not  here  to  abuse  them.  Nearly 
all  of  them  are  honest,  but  once  in  a  while  one  of  them  is  a 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

hypocrite,  makes  his  living  by  being  a  reformer,  but  who  would 
think  of  one  of  them  for  a  Member  of  Congress,  or  Senator,  or 
President.  For  those  offices  we  want  a  politician,  a  man  of 
affairs,  a  man  whose  range  of  vision  can  cover  the  whole  country, 
and  if  necessary  the  whole  world. 

LINCOLN  was  assassinated  by  a  crazy  man.  Later  on  Garfield 
was  assassinated,  and  later  on  McKinley;  and  when  LINCOLN  was 
assassinated  it  was  the  saddest  day  for  the  Southland  and  the 
Northland.  [Applause.]  There  would  have  been  no  mistake 
made,  in  my  judgment,  if  LINCOLN  had  not  been  assassinated. 
When  the  proposition  was  made  to  put  South  Carolina  and 
Virginia  together  in  one  military  district  he  said,  "No;  I  want 
to  keep  the  States  separate  so  far  as  I  can  to  preserve  their 
autonomy  and  to  help  strengthen  the  Union."  [Applause.] 
But  he  was  assassinated.  If  he  had  remained  President  when 
your  State  governments  were  being  formed  you  would  not  have 
had  reorganizations  that  made  peons  practically  of  the  late 
slaves,  and  when  that  happened  then  came  reconstruction  with 
all  the  hardships  that  followed.  It  was  a  great  loss  to  the 
North  and  a  great  loss  to  the  South. 

I  believe  the  hand  that  used  the  weapon  to  take  the  life  of 
LINCOLN  was  inspired  by  the  press,  North  and  South,  that  de- 
nounced Mr.  LINCOLN.  I  believe  the  same  thing  is  true  of  Gar- 
field,  and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  McKinley.  I  believe  in  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  but,  oh,  at  times  a  terrible  effort  is  re- 
quired to  guarantee  that  freedom  when  the  liberty  of  the  press 
gets  to  be  the  license  of  the  press. 

Now,  one  further  word  and  I  will  sit  down.  When  I  get  to 
talking  about  LINCOLN  in  common  conversation,  I  suppose  I 
could  talk  all  day,  as  many  of  you  and  millions  of  others  could 
throughout  the  country.  Who  are  the  men  that  have  effected 
civilization  in  all  the  days  from  the  Master  born  in  a  manger? 
Who  were  His  disciples,  the  fishermen  ?  And  from  the  time  of 
His  crucifixion  down  to  this  time  He  has  grown  and  grown,  and 
His  teachings,  notwithstanding  the  great  struggle  we  are  hav- 
ing now  among  three  hundred  millions  on  the  other  side — His 
teachings  grow  more  powerful  and  useful  to  the  human  family. 


Homestead    ofAbraham    Lin  co  I 


n 


The  men  that  have  been  the  strongest  leaders  of  the  world 
are  men  born  in  the  cabins,  in  humble  life,  and  of  humble 
parentage.  A  Member  referred  to  Napoleon  the  other  day. 
Napoleon  was  of  the  first  generation  that  we  know  anything 
about,  and  substantially  when  he  died  that  was  the  end  of  the 
generation,  although  there  is  one  man  who  is  respectable  in 
ability  and  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

And  so  you  run  along.  Take  it  in  poetry.  Robert  Burns,  a 
son  of  the  soil.  Robert  Burns  speaks  of  the  people  in  his  won- 
derful songs,  and,  in  my  judgment,  has  done  more  for  civil  and 
religious  liberty  than  any  man  for  many,  many  generations — 
and  I  was  going  to  say  centuries.  [Applause.] 

Who  was  the  father  of  Shakespeare?  He  had  no  descendants, 
so  far  as  I  know,  and  yet  his  plays  will  live  through  all  time. 
And  then  there  were  Goldsmith,  Whittier,  Dickens,  Thackeray, 
Tolstoi,  Andrew  Jackson,  Garfield,  Morton,  Sherman,  Grant, 
Carnegie,  Bell — and  I  could  stand,  if  you  had  the  patience  to 
listen,  and  read  a  list  by  the  hour.  The  old  saying  on  the 
Wabash,  homely  as  it  was,  is  true,  "It  is  three  generations  from 
shirt  sleeves  to  shirt  sleeves."  It  was  true  then  and  true  now, 
and  has  been  true  substantially  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
world. 

You  know  that  if  you  go  into  New  York  or  into  Chicago  or 
the  great  centers  you  will  find  that  three  out  of  four  men  in 
business  who  direct  the  affairs  of  men  were  sons  of  farmers  or 
others  who  lived  in  the  sweat  of  their  faces,  who  worked  in 
early  life  and  have  become  qualified  for  their  subsequent 
career.  Once  in  a  while  one  of  them  makes  a  very  great  for- 
tune, and  if  he  gets  too  strong  somebody  tries  to  take  it  away 
from  him,  and  sometimes  succeeds,  and  we  call  him  a  pluto- 
crat; he  commenced  as  a  democrat  and  became  a  plutocrat. 
[Laughter.] 

By  the  way,  I  have  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  been  reading 
Emerson  a  little  bit,  and  in  his  essay  on  Napoleon  he  winds 
up  near  the  close  with  this  statement.  Napoleon,  you  know, 
became  first  consul,  overran  Europe  substantially,  was  then 
Emperor,  then  came  St.  Helena.  He  was  a  democrat  and  ran 
through  all  of  the  stages  before  he  died,  but  Emerson  uses  this 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

sentence,  "The  democrat  is  a  young  conservative;  the  conserva- 
tive is  an  old  democrat;  the  aristocrat  is  a  democrat  ripe  and 
gone  to  seed."  [Laughter.]  The  first  part  of  this  definition 
applied  to  LINCOLN,  who  was  thoroughly  democratic  and  also 
conservative,  but  never  aristocratic.  Emerson  said  of  him, 
"He  stood,  a  heroic  figure,  in  the  center  of  a  heroic  epoch. 
He  is  the  true  history  of  the  American  people  in  his  time." 
[Great  applause.] 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  1 5  minutes  to  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Sherwood]. 


S3 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  SHERWOOD,  OF  OHIO 

Mr.  Chairman,  sitting  here  to-day  in  this  presence  I  could  not 
help  but  grow  reminiscent  listening  to  the  splendid  tribute  to 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  by  my  old  friend,  Mr.  Cannon.  That  vital 
historical  recital  reminded  me  of  the  time  when  we  came  into 
the  Forty-third  Congress  together  on  the  first  Monday  of  De- 
cember, 1873.  [Applause.]  I  believe  that  Mr.  Cannon  and 
myself  are  the  only  Members  in  either  branch  of  Congress  now 
in  public  life  who  were  Members  of  that  Congress.  There  were 
historical  characters  in  that  Congress,  men  called  to  deal  with 
both  ethical  and  fundamental  questions  growing  out  of  the 
Civil  War,  questions  that  stirred  the  blood  and  commanded 
the  most  potent  mental  endeavor.  Just  across  this  aisle  sat 
two  intellectual  athletes — Gen.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  S.  S.  Cox,  of  Ohio  and  New  York — who  continu- 
ously measured  the  strength  and  potency  of  their  rasping 
scimitars  at  close  range.  Near  the  seat  where  now  sits  our 
able  and  alert  leader  of  the  minority  [Mr.  Mann]  sat  my  old 
Army  comrade,  James  A.  Garfield,  then  chairman  of  the  Appro- 
priations Committee,  afterwards  President  of  the  United  States. 
Right  in  front  of  the  Speaker's  desk,  in  his  wheeled  chair,  was 
Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  late  vice  president  of  the 
Confederate  States,  a  man  of  intense  and  powerful  intellectual- 
ity, a  true  type  of  that  array  of  intellectual  giants  that  made 
both  the  House  and  the  Senate  great  forums  of  debate  during 
and  after  the  war. 

James  G.  Blaine,  the  idol  of  his  party,  was  Speaker  of  the 
House  and  the  recognized  leader.  On  the  Republican  side  sat 
6  representatives  of  the  negro  race,  just  enfranchised,  and  on 
the  Democratic  side  10  or  12  of  the  battle-scarred  veterans  of 
the  Confederate  Army.  I  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  between  Gen. 
"Joe"  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  and  George  Frisbie  Hoar,  of 
Massachusetts,  the  former  then  famous  as  a  soldier,  the  latter 
as  the  exponent  of  the  highest  culture  in  the  domain  of  civics. 


55 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  co  In 

But  lest  I  be  classed  as  a  reminiscent,  I  will  not  indulge  in  rem- 
iniscences further.  I  am  not  a  pessimist.  I  believe  in  to-day, 
I  believe  in  the  future,  I  believe  in  the  better  day  to  come. 
And  if  the  debates  I  have  listened  to  in  this  Congress  seem  tame 
and  commonplace,  it  is  because  no  great  vital  questions  to  stir 
men's  blood  have  been  under  consideration,  questions  to  waken 
the  full  force  of  high  intellectual  effort.  Should  a  great  crisis 
confront  this  Congress,  I  sincerely  believe  that  there  is  material 
on  this  floor,  on  both  sides  of  this  historic  Chamber,  to  equal  in 
forensic  power  the  record  of  the  past.  Such  a  crisis  may  not  be 
far  off.  I  remember  also  the  first  speech  of  my  colleague,  Mr. 
Cannon,  made  43  years  ago  on  the  floor  of  this  House,  and 
then,  as  to-day,  we  all  sat  up  and  took  notice.  [Applause.] 

THE   LOG-CABIN    MEMORIAL,  TO   LINCOLN 

You  will  all  concede  that  nothing  new  can  be  said  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  History  and  biography  and  the  muse  of 
poetry  have  been  busy  with  his  name  and  fame  for  over  a  half 
a  century,  and  history  has  said  its  last  word.  It  was  that 
crash  of  cannon  shot  against  the  walls  of  Fort  Sumter  which 
started  the  movement  that  made  the  name  of  ABRAHAM  LIN- 
COLN the  most  sacred  heritage  of  the  redeemed  Nation.  With- 
out the  titanic  conflict  that  followed,  the  name  and  fame  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  might  never  have  inspired  a  national  lyric. 

It  is  not  great  men  who  make  great  epochs  of  history.  It 
is  great  epochs  that  make  great  men.  Had  there  been  no 
Trojan  War  there  would  have  been  no  Homer.  Had  there 
been  no  conflict  of  the  kings  in  the  formative  period  of  English 
literature  there  would  have  been  no  Shakespeare.  Had  there 
been  no  War  of  the  American  Revolution  there  would  have 
been  no  George  Washington,  and  had  there  been  no  Civil  War 
from  1861  to  1865  there  would  have  been  no  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

The  American  people  were  leading  a  dull  and  melancholy 
life  before  that  awful  struggle  of  arms,  but  with  that  crash  of 
cannon  shot  against  the  walls  of  Sumter  came  a  new  and  in- 
spired life.  When  the  storm  burst,  the  finger  of  God  dropped 
the  plummet  into  the  Dead  Sea,  and  with  the  overflow  came 
new  hopes,  new  ambitions,  and  new  inspirations.  And  through- 

56 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

out  that  four  years'  struggle,  the  most  desperate  and  long  con- 
tinued of  modern  wars,  the  leading  hand,  the  guiding  spirit  in 
the  camps  and  courts  and  capitols  of  the  Nation  was  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN,  the  President  and  commander  in  chief. 

I  remember  on  the  4th  of  November,  1864,  we  were  on  a 
march  in  Tennessee,  a  forced  march,  toward  the  battle  field  of 
Franklin.  The  Ohio  Legislature  had  passed  a  law  (they  had 
the  old  ballot  system  then  before  we  had  imported  the  system 
from  Australia)  that  the  soldiers  in  the.  field  should  vote.  The 
Ohio  presidential  tickets  had  been  sent  to  me  for  my  regiment, 
the  One  hundred  and  eleventh  Ohio.  We  were  on  a  forced 
march  the  day  of  the  election  for  President  of  the  United  States. 
We  were  to  start  at  daylight.  Just  before  daylight  I  had  my 
horse  saddled  and  rode  back  3  miles  to  the  rear  and  borrowed 
from  our  brigade  surgeon,  Dr.  Brewer,  an  ambulance  and  a 
camp  kettle.  Whenever  we  rested  that  day,  on  that  rapid 
march,  the  soldiers  of  my  regiment  voted  in  that  old  camp 
kettle  in  the  ambulance.  We  counted  the  votes  at  night  by 
the  light  of  the  bivouac  fires.  One-third  of  my  regiment  were 
Democrats,  and  yet  there  were  only  seven  votes  against 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  in  the  whole  regiment. 

I  remember  also  after  the  Battles  of  Franklin  and  Nashville, 
and  after  we  had  driven  Gen.  Hood  and  his  army  across  the 
Tennessee  River,  we  were  placed  on  transports  and  carried  up 
the  Tennessee  and  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati ;  then  across  Ohio  and 
Virginia  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  to  Washington.  We 
reached  this  city  March  3,  consigned  to  an  ocean  voyage  to 
some  point  in  North  Carolina  to  meet  the  army  of  Gen.  Sher- 
man coming  up  the  coast  from  Savannah.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
was  to  be  inaugurated  the  following  day,  March  4,  1865.  I  was 
looking  for  a  war  horse  in  Washington,  as  my  last  horse  was 
shot  at  the  Battle  of  Franklin,  but  I  was  determined  to  see 
LINCOLN  and  hear  his  second  inaugural  address.  I  had  never 
seen  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  There  was  a  vast  crowd  on  the  east 
front  of  the  Capitol.  It  seems  to  me  there  must  have  been 
20,000,  with  many  hundred  boys  in  blue,  and  officers  in  full 
uniform,  including  Gen.  Joe  Hooker.  I  had  on  my  old  war- 
worn uniform,  once  a  blue  uniform,  now  tarnished  with  grime 


57 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  coin 

from  the  red  clay  roads  of  northern  Georgia  and  the  sticky  mud 
of  west  Tennessee.  My  old  slouch  hat  with  a  hole  burned  in 
the  crown,  caused  by  sleeping  with  my  head  too  close  to  a 
bivouac  fire,  was  not  a  fitting  crown  for  inauguration  day,  but 
I  worked  my  way  through  that  vast  throng  to  within  6  feet  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  and  I  heard  him  deliver  his  last  oration  on 
earth.  I  heard  him  say : 

Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of 
war  may  speedily  pass  away.  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for 
all,  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive 
to  finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the  Nation's  wounds;  to  care  for 
him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan. 

[Applause.] 

Over  a  half  century  has  passed  since  that  eventful  day.  I 
can  see  LINCOLN  now  as  I  saw  him  then — a  tall,  spare,  gaunt 
man,  with  deep  lines  of  care  furrowing  his  cheeks,  with  inex- 
pressible sadness  in  his  face,  the  face  of  a  man  of  many  sorrows. 
A  sad  face,  a  strong  face,  a  face  radiant  with  the  inspiration  of  a 
great  soul,  as  he  voiced  in  prophecy  the  ultimate  destiny  of  this 
Nation.  As  a  soldier  of  the  Republic  I  heard  ABRAHAM  LIN- 
COLN voice  his  national  ideals  in  his  last  message  to  the  American 
people. 

Two  million  soldiers  fought  under  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  the 
revered  President  and  Commander  in  Chief,  in  the  most  desper- 
ate and  longest  enduring  war  of  modern  times.  Over  and  above 
the  2,000,000  soldier  graves  that  are,  or  soon  will  be,  there  rises 
triumphant  in  the  radiant  glory  of  a  world-wide  beneficence,  the 
prescient  prophet  of  emancipation,  the  leader  in  the  grandest 
epoch-making  era  of  all  civilization.  [Applause.] 

Then  I  recall  another  scene  that  I  shall  never  forget.  It 
was  the  day  after  the  surrender  of  Lee's  army  at  Appomat- 
tox.  Our  Army  was  marching  up  the  right  bank  of  the  Neuse 
River,  in  North  Carolina.  I  saw  in  the  distance  a  man  on 
horseback,  riding  a  magnificent  horse — riding  like  mad — and 
as  he  approached  the  head  of  our  column  it  was  plainly  to  be 
seen  that  he  must  have  been  riding  hard,  for  his  horse's  flanks 
were  white  with  foam,  his  eyes  flashed  fire,  his  nostrils  red  as 
blood.  As  he  neared  our  front  he  shouted  at  the  top  of  his 


Homestead    of  A  br  a  ham    Lin  co  In 

voice,  "Lee's  whole  army  has  surrendered."  Every  marching 
soldier  behind  a  gun  voiced  the  gladness  of  his  heart.  The 
whole  Army  went  wild.  That  line  of  march  was  about  10  miles 
long,  and  I  could  almost  hear  the  last  shout  of  joy  away  down 
to  the  end  of  the  line.  That  officer  was  Lieut.  Riggs,  on  the 
staff  of  Gen.  Schofield,  the  commander  of  our  Army  corps.  We 
were  all  tired  of  war,  and  that  was  the  gladdest  day  that 
Army  ever  saw.  It  was  the  proudest  day  any  army  ever  saw 
since  God  created  the  world.  We  had  fought  the  good  fight, 
we  had  kept  the  faith,  and  we  knew  that  the  war  was  nearing 
its  end,  and  that  we  could  again  go  to  our  homes  and  clasp 
again  the  angels  of  our  own  household.  And  what  a  terrible 
change  from  universal  joy  to  the  deepest  gloom  followed  this 
gala  day.  On  the  i5th  of  April,  1865,  after  we  had  reached 
the  environs  of  Raleigh,  I  saddled  up  my  horse  to  ride  into 
the  city.  I  had  to  pass  through  the  camps  of  about  60,000 
soldiers.  Camps  are  always  noisy.  There  are  always  some 
soldiers  who  are  singing  songs,  and  our  Army  was  always 
buzzing  with  cheerful  voices.  They  were  all  cheerful  then, 
because  we  were  seeing  the  end  of  the  war.  But  that  morning 
the  camps  were  as  still  as  the  grave.  I  met  a  staff  officer  and 
inquired,  "Why  this  silence  in  the  camps?"  He  replied, 
"President  LINCOLN  has  been  assassinated."  There  was  uni- 
versal mourning  in  the  Army.  Every  soldier  loved  and  revered 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  and  that  whole  camp  was  as  silent  as  this 
House  in  the  midst  of  the  prayer  of  the  Chaplain.  That  is  how 
the  Army  regarded  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Every  soldier  loved 
him  as  a  brother. 

Now,  as  to  this  log-cabin  tribute:  We  have  built  many 
monuments  to  LINCOLN.  We  have  dedicated  many  statues  in 
bronze  and  marble;  we  have  four  in  the  city  of  Washington. 
I  was  under  the  great  dome  this  morning.  I  saw  Vinnie 
Ream's  marble  statue  of  LINCOLN  in  the  plain  clothes  of  an 
American  citizen;  I  saw  Borglum's  representation  of  the  face 
of  LINCOLN,  double  heroic  size.  In  Judiciary  Square  there  is 
another  figure  in  marble  of  LINCOLN,  and  in  Lincoln  Park  there 
is  a  true-to-life  figure  of  LINCOLN  in  bronze  in  the  act  of  un- 
shackling a.  slave.  We  are  building  a  splendid  temple  to  him 


59 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  That  is  all  right.  But  monu- 
ments and  temples  and  statues  have  no  emotion,  no  human 
sympathy,  no  voice.  But  here  is  LINCOLN'S  old  Kentucky  home. 
Here  is  the  log  cabin  where  he  was  born.  Here  is  a  silent 
monitor  teaching  a  vital  lesson  in  patriotism.  Here  is  a  symbol 
of  hope  and  cheer  to  every  poor  boy  struggling  against  poverty 
for  an  honorable  career.  Here  is  a  Mecca  where  all  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Nation  can  gather  and  take  courage  in  the  story 
of  a  man,  born  in  a  rude  log  cabin,  who  learned  to  read  books 
at  night  in  the  silent  woods  by  the  light  of  a  pine-knot  fire, 
and  who  became  the  guiding  hand — the  leading  spirit — in 
one  of  the  greatest  epochs  of  all  history.  [Continued  applause.] 

Mr.  McKiNi,EY.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  five  minutes  to  the 
gentleman  from  Minnesota  [Mr.  Smith]. 


60 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  SMITH,  OF  MINNESOTA 

Mr.  Chairman,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  after  hearing 
the  able  and  exceedingly  interesting  speeches  of  Hon.  Joseph  G. 
Cannon  and  the  Hon.  Isaac  R.  Sherwood  and  others  upon  the 
life  and  deeds  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  I  would  not  be  so  pre- 
sumptuous as  to  attempt  to  add  anything  to  what  has  already 
been  said  about  "the  greatest  memory  of  our  earth." 

The  transfer  by  the  patriotic  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  of 
the  log  cabin  in  which  Lincoln  was  born  to  the  gentle  care  and 
protection  of  the  United  States  is  no  ordinary  occasion. 

I  never  expect  to  witness  a  more  patriotic  and  inspiring 
scene.  It  is  an  event  that  arouses  in  every  American  heart  a 
desire  to  give  expression  to  the  love  and  veneration  in  which 
he  not  only  holds  the  great  emancipator  but  everything  con- 
nected with  his  life  from  childhood  to  the  grave. 

From  the  fullness  of  the  American  heart  the  mouth  speaketh 
of  the  things  that  make  life  worth  living;  of  the  things  that 
ennoble  and  sanctify  God's  heritage  to  man. 

Would  that  I  had  the  ability  to  depict  for  you  my  heart's 
image  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN;  it  would  fill  you  with  thanks- 
giving to  Almighty  God  for  having  sent  in  the  hour  of  our 
country's  direst  need  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN — the  greatest  power 
for  good  and  the  greatest  leader  of  men  since  Christ — "a  Christ 
in  miniature,"  said  Tolstoy. 

Filled  with  such  emotions,  I  know  that  my  generous  and 
patriotic  colleagues  will  bear  with  me  while  I  in  my  humble 
way  on  this  historic  day  lay  a  sprig  of  laurel  on  the  tomb  of 
one  of  our  own  kind  and  generation — the  immortal  LINCOLN — 
the  friend  of  man. 

Born  of  humble  and  illiterate  parentage,  on  Nolan  Creek,  in 
a  wild  and  unsettled  hickory  forest  of  Kentucky,  in  this  rude 
cabin — a  very  strange  and  unlikely  place  for  the  birth  of  the 
Nation's  saviour.  From  this  lonely  home  in  the  wilderness, 

61 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

devoid  of  books,  schools,  and  churches,  and  even  of  the  stim- 
ulus of  educated  companions,  this  incomparable  child  of  the 
forest  by  sheer  force  of  character  advanced  step  by  step  in 
knowledge  and  statecraft  until  he  reached  the  highest  position 
in  the  gift  of  the  greatest  Nation  on  earth.  And  this,  too,  at  a 
time  when  that  Nation  needed  its  greatest  genius  to  save  it 
from  self-destruction. 

These  inspiring  exercises  testify  more  eloquently  than  any 
words  of  mine  how  completely  he  restored  the  Union  as  it  was 
before  the  mighty  rebellion,  in  which  he  was  the  matchless 
leader.  To-day  the  Southland  is  vying  with  the  Northland  in 
paying  homage  to  the  memory  of  the  preserver  of  our  Common- 
wealth, its  flag  and  free  institutions.  If  the  shades  of  the 
venerated  and  martyred  LINCOLN  could  witness  this  scene  of  a 
reunited  and  happy  people,  its  cup  of  joy  would  overflow. 

His  was  a  life  filled  with  greatness  and  sadness — free  from 
malice,  jealousy,  and  revenge. 

His  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the  South  after  the  fall  of 
the  Confederacy  was  beautifully  expressed  in  these  words: 

I  want  the  people  of  the  South  to  come  back  to  the  old  home,  to  sit 
down  at  the  old  fireside,  to  sleep  under  the  old  roof,  and  to  labor  and  rest 
and  worship  God  under  the  old  flag.  For  four  years  I  have  seen  the  flag 
of  our  Union  riddled  with  bullets  and  torn  with  shell  and  trailed  in  the 
dust  before  the  eyes  of  all  the  nations,  and  now  I  am  hoping  that  it  will 
please  God  to  let  me  live  until  I  shall  see  that  same  flag  unsullied  and 
untorn  waving  over  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  Nation  of  the  earth — 
over  a  nation  of  freemen — over  no  master  and  over  no  slave. 

When  LINCOLN  gave  expression  to  these  noble  sentiments  his 
heart  was  filled  with  solemn  joy  over  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
his  mind  was  occupied  with  hopes  for  the  future  welfare  of  his 
country  and  his  countrymen.  For  some  time  he  had  been 
laying  plans  by  which  the  States  could  be  reunited,  and  the 
brave  men  who  had  fought  on  both  sides  of  the  mighty  struggle 
could  live  in  peace  and  happiness  ever  after.  Events  followed 
each  other  in  such  quick  succession  the  great  President  did  not 
have  an  opportunity  to  impart  to  his  associates  his  plans  of 
reconstruction  before  he  was  removed  from  this  earth  by  an 
assassin's  bullet,  and  the  earthly  career  of  the  "best-loved  man 


62 


Homestead    o  f  Ab  r  ah  am    Lincoln 

that  ever  trod  this  continent  was  translated  by  a  bloody  mar- 
tyrdom to  his  crown  of  glory." 

Though  the  soul  of  LINCOLN  had  returned  to  its  God  as  white 
as  it  came,  it  left  behind  a  grief-stricken  Nation — a  Nation  in 
tears.  He  had  won  for  himself  a  place  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen  that  will  endure  until  the  end  of  time.  While  we 
love  our  great  benefactor  as  an  individual,  he  loved  us  as  in- 
dividuals and  collectively.  The  secret  of  his  remarkable  life 
was  his  intense  love  not  only  of  man  and  mankind  but  of  all 
nature.  He  was  so  constituted  that  he  grieved  at  the  pains 
and  rejoiced  at  the  pleasures  of  his  fellows.  His  sympathy 
knew  no  bounds,  going  so  far  as  to  forget  himself  in  his  desire 
to  be  useful  to  mankind.  It  was  his  strongest  instinct,  inherited 
from  his  refined,  gentle,  and  sensitive  mother  and  wonderfully 
developed  through  his  childhood  association  with  nature. 

LINCOLN'S  lowly  birth  served  to  develop  him  to  the  fullest 
perfection  and  endowed  him  with  the  highest  and  noblest 
qualities  in  man. 

His  childhood  association  with  running  brooks,  vine-clad  rocks, 
and  hickory  forests  teeming  with  song  birds  and  overrun  with 
wild  flowers,  had  much  to  do  with  forming  his  simple,  earnest, 
and  truthful  character. 

He  grew  to  man's  estate  with  a  heart  in  full  sympathy  with 
every  phase  of  life,  capable  of  consorting  and  sympathizing 
with  all  things.  In  this  respect  he  differed  from  his  associates, 
for  they  were  only  capable  of  sympathizing  with  a  few  things. 
Though  many  of  them  were  intellectual  giants,  they  lacked  the 
power  to  develop  a  broad  human  outlook;  they  were  limited 
to  their  particular  point  of  view,  the  political,  the  social,  the 
commercial,  and  the  religious,  and  judged  life  accordingly. 
Hence,  anything  outside  their  contracted  sympathies  they  con- 
demned as  a  thing  of  evil,  and  spent  their  energy  trying  to  save 
it  from  damnation. 

What  was  true  of  LINCOLN'S  associates  applies  with  equal 
force  to  the  men  of  this  day  and  age.  Prejudices  and  antipa- 
thies originating  in  birth  are  seldom  eradicated,  and  never  if 
the  child  is  brought  up  in  a  narrow  groove. 

Our  environment  exerts  upon  us  a  strong  incentive  to  think, 
act,  and  judge  as  others  do. 

38796°— 16 5  63 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  a  h  am    Lin  coin 

LINCOLN'S  success  in  life  and  his  usefulness  to  mankind  was 
his  ability  to  rise  above  this  parrot-like  existence  and  to  place 
himself  in  the  position  of  others  in  order  that  he  might  under- 
stand them  and  be  of  use  and  service  to  them.  Because  of  his 
broad,  human,  educated  sympathies  he  was  enabled  to  do  this 
to  a  greater  extent  than  any  other  historic  personage  of  the 
world.  There  was  no  misguided  sentiment  in  his  make-up.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that,  constituted  as  he  was,  he  became  the 
matchless  leader  of  men?  While  an  idealist  in  the  truest 
sense,  he  was,  at  the  same  time,  unusually  practical  and  sound 
on  all  questions  that  affected  man's  relation  to  society. 

That  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  in  fuller  sympathy  with  man- 
kind than  any  other  man  is  evidenced  by  what  he  said  and  what 
he  did  for  mankind  during  his  earthly  existence. 

When  a  man  said  to  him,  "The  people  will  go  wrong  on  this 
subject,"  he  replied,  "Intellectually,  probably  they  may;  mor- 
ally, never.  In  the  multitude  of  counsel  there  is  safety,"  said 
he,  quoting  from  the  Bible.  Expressions  of  this  kind  flowed 
from  his  lips  in  countless  number: 

God  must  have  loved  the  common  people,  for  He  made  so  many  of  them. 
You  can  fool  all  of  the  people  some  of  the  time,  some  of  the  people  all  of 
the  time,  but  you  can  not  fool  all  of  the  people  all  of  the  time. 

He  always  saw  the  distinction  between  an  attempt  to  suppress 
public  opinion  and  direct  public  opinion. 

Our  duty  is  to  direct  public  opinion  in  the  right  channels; 
never  to  attempt  to  suppress  it.  That  was  LINCOLN'S  philos- 
ophy, and  his  life  and  works  are  an  exemplification  of  that 
philosophy. 

Under  LINCOLN  the  Nation  had  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and 
it  is  for  us,  the  living,  to  dedicate  ourselves  to  the  preservation 
of  that  Nation  to  sustain  which  he  "gave  the  last  full  measure 
of  devotion. 

Mr.  McKiNLEY.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  five  minutes  to  the 
gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr.  Hicks]. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  HICKS,  OF  NEW  YORK 

Mr.  HICKS.  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  not  for  me  to  review  the  story 
of  LINCOLN'S  life  or  relate  the  memories  and  traditions  which 
cluster  around  his  name.  That  story,  with  its  pathos  and  trials, 
its  tragedies  and  triumphs,  its  humor  and  its  sadness,  has  been 
told  so  often  that  it  is  impossible  to  illuminate  the  picture  or 
add  to  the  reverence  and  the  homage  which  the  world  pays  to 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Born  in  obscurity,  nurtured  in  abject  poverty,  he  closed  life's 
fitful  course  the  grandest  figure  of  his  generation,  the  noblest 
contribution  of  America  to  an  enlightened  civilization. 

For  many  and  many  an  age  proclaim, 

At  civic  revel  and  pomp  and  game, 
With  honor,  honor,  honor  to  him, 

Eternal  honor  to  his  name. 

The  life  of  LINCOLN,  with  its  contrasts  and  contradictions,  de- 
fies analysis  and  refutes  the  theory  of  heredity.  The  environ- 
ment in  which  he  was  reared  is  in  direct  antithesis  to  the  inspir- 
ing significance  of  his  life.  Misjudged,  maligned,  ridiculed,  yet 
undaunted  and  undismayed,  sustained  by  the  unseen  Hand  that 
guides  the  destinies  of  men,  he  trod  the  weary  path  alone. 

In  that  mysterious  laboratory  of  Nature  which  knows  naught 
of  birth  or  wealth  or  station  his  brow  was  touched  by  the 
magic  wand.  Through  the  privations  of  his  early  years,  in  the 
gloom  of  struggle,  the  invisible  flame  within  glowed  with  an 
effulgent  light.  In  the  quiet  of  the  wilderness,  by  the  blazing 
logs  on  the  hearth  of  the  rude  cabin  which  to-day  we  venerate 
above  the  abode  of  princes,  there  came  to  him  from  the  eternal 
silence  of  the  starry  sky  that  long,  far  call. 

In  LINCOLN  were  combined  the  noblest  attributes  of  the  mind, 
the  heart,  the  soul.  The  stones  in  the  foundation  upon  which 
was  reared  the  structure  of  his  life  were  simplicity,  honesty, 
sincerity,  and  sympathy,  bound  together  in  enduring  strength 
by  his  faith  in  his  fellow  men,  his  faith  in  his  country,  and  his 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

faith  in  his  God.  Where  was  the  touch  that  raised  him  to  such 
heights?  What  was  the  loadstone  of  his  power?  Wherein  lay 
the  secret  whereby  he  stands  forth  the  embodiment  of  the  ideals 
and  the  personification  of  the  spirit  of  the  Nation?  We  ask, 
but  we  ask  in  vain.  No  positive,  final  answer  has  vet  been  given 
to  the  query. 

In  the  crisis  through  which  the  Nation  is  passing  let  us  keep 
constantly  before  us  the  memory  and  deeds  of  LINCOLN  ;  let  his 
unswerving  courage  and  lofty  patriotism  be  our  guide  in  this 
hour  of  trial  and  tribulation.  We  may  be  divided  upon  issues 
affecting  our  domestic  policy,  but  upon  the  preservation  of  the 
rights  and  dignity  of  the  Nation  there  can  be  no  division.  Upon 
that  subject,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  stand  united  as  Americans,  and 
our  determination  to  maintain  absolute  and  inviolate  the  honor 
of  the  flag  must  rise  supreme  to  all  prejudice  for  or  against  any 
of  the  contending  powers;  superior  now  and  always  to  the 
selfish  interests  of  other  nations.  Let  the  spirit  of  LINCOLN  the 
patriot,  LINCOLN  the  American,  strengthen  our  hands  and  give 
courage  to  our  hearts,  and  so  enable  us  to  face  the  problems  of 
the  present  as  he  met  those  of  the  past,  with  the  full  measure 
of  devotion  to  our  country. 

The  acclaim  of  loyalty  and  patriotism  which  wells  from  the 
hearts  of  the  Nation's  representatives  on  the  floor  of  Congress 
upon  every  allusion  to  the  name  of  LINCOLN  is  a  benediction  of 
the  past  and  an  inspiration  for  the  future.  Forgetting  sectional 
animosities,  rising  above  political  prejudices,  every  State  offers 
its  tribute  of  affection  and  veneration  to  the  memory  of  the 
martyred  President  and  proclaims  its  loyalty  and  devotion  to 
a  great  united  country.  The  honor  of  that  name  is  the  heritage 
of  all,  North  and  South.  The  bitterness  and  the  anguish 
engendered  by  the  mighty  conflict  of  a  half  century  ago  have 
faded  away;  the  dark  clouds  of  hate  and  jealousy  which  hard- 
ened the  hearts  of  men  on  both  sides  of  that  struggle  have  given 
place  to  the  sunshine  of  respect  and  confidence.  Under  the 
softening  influence  of  that  noble  sentiment  of  LINCOLN,  "With 
malice  toward  none  and  with  charity  toward  all,"  the  line  of 
Mason  and  Dixon  has  been  obliterated.  Across  the  chasm 


66 


Homestead    of  A  b  r  a  h  a  m  ,  Lin  co  In 

once  drenched  with  the  blood  of  heroes  are  extended  the  hands 
of  brothers,  brothers  who  like — 

The  mighty  mother  turns  in  tears 
The  pages  of  her  battle  years, 
Lamenting  all  her  fallen  sons. 

To  you  gentlemen  of  the  Southland  in  whose  veins  flow  the 
blood  of  the  soldiers  in  gray,  who  in  your  magnanimity  claim 
that  LINCOLN  is  yours  as  well  as  ours,  let  me  answer,  as  one  from 
the  North,  Yes;  LINCOLN  is  yours  as  well  as  ours,  and  Lee  is 
ours  as  well  as  yours.  [Applause.]  But  in  revivifying  the 
memories  of  the  past  I  would  rather  forget  that  there  are  any 
yours.  I  prefer  to  remember  only  that  it  is  all  ours;  that 
American  greatness  and  American  heroism  knows  no  section 
and  belongs  to  no  generation;  that  in  our  nationalism  we  are 
all  Americans  united  in  a  common  cause,  possessed  of  a  common 
love  for  country  and  for  flag.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  two  minutes  to 
the  gentleman  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Russell]. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Russell] 
is  recognized  for  two  minutes. 


67 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  RUSSELL,  OF  MISSOURI 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  no  prepared  speech,  and  will  not  in  the 
short  time  I  have  make  any  extended  remarks,  but  I  want  sim- 
ply to  express  my  favorable  consideration  and  my  approval  of 
this  bill,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  accept  for  the  Government 
the  cabin  home  and  birthplace  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  as  a  dona- 
tion from  the  present  owners,  the  Lincoln  Farm  Association  of 
the  State  of  Kentucky.  I  believe  that  is  a  patriotic  and  a  proper 
thing  to  do,  both  because  we  owe  it  to  the  memory  of  this  great 
man  to  accept  this  donation  of  his  birthplace  and  because  I 
believe  it  is  important  as  an  inspiration  and  encouragement  to 
other  boys  of  our  country  who  have  been  or  who  may  hereafter 
be  born  in  humble  homes  and  of  humble  parentage.  It  helps  to 
impress  upon  the  minds  of  all  American  boys  that  the  humblest 
in  birth  or  station  among  them  may  aspire  to  places  of  the 
highest  distinction  and  honor. 

I  knew  of  LINCOLN  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  remember  the  Civil 
War  very  distinctly,  and  when  the  war  began,  and  when  my 
eldest  brother  went  to  fight  on  the  side  of  the  South  for  four 
years.  I  as  a  child  was  prejudiced  against  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
I  was  taught  to  believe  he  was  an  enemy  of  the  South ;  but  before 
that  war  was  over  we  took  a  different  view  of  it,  and  our  people 
got  to  believe  that  he  was  our  friend,  a  patriotic  man  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  great  duty  to  humanity  and  to  his  Government. 
I  was,  as  an  n -year-old  farmer's  boy,  in  the  cornfield  dropping 
corn  on  the  isth  day  of  April,  1865.  My  father  went  to  town  to 
get  his  mail,  and  when  he  came  back  he  told  us  that  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN  had  been  assassinated.  There  was  no  man  in  this 
Union  more  deeply  grieved  than  my  father,  and  all  of  his  family 
shared  in  his  genuine  grief. 

I  overheard  the  minority  leader  of  this  House  [Mr.  Mann] 
about  five  years  ago  say  one  day  when  Washington's  Farewell 
Address  was  being  read  that  he  hoped  the  time  would  some  time 
corne  when  some  Democrat  would  have  the  patriotism  to  read 

• 

69 


Homestead    o  f  A  b  r  a h  am    Lincoln 

in  this  House  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  Gettysburg  speech.  I 
accepted  the  suggestion,  and  four  times  on  LINCOLN'S  birthday, 
I  have  read  that  great  and  masterful  speech,  and  with  the  per- 
mission of  the  Speaker  of  this  House,  I  intend  to  read  it  every 
year  on  LINCOLN'S  birthday  as  long  as  I  remain  a  Member  of 
this  House.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  McKiNLEY.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  10  minutes  to  the  gen- 
tlemen from  Nebraska  [Mr.  Sloan]. 

Thie  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  Nebraska  [Mr.  Sloan] 
is  recognized  for  10  minutes. 


70 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  SLOAN,  OF  NEBRASKA 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  can  not  hope  to  bring  a  new  message  on 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  to  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  is  a 
tribute  to  the  general  intelligence  of  the  American  people  that 
few  men,  either  of  learning  or  of  experience,  can  bring  any  new 
message  to  the  American  people  with  reference  to  this  primal 
American  character. 

I  talked  a  short  time  ago  with  the  author  of  this  bill.  He 
expressed  the  thought  that  seemed  specially  pertinent,  that  the 
discussion  on  this  floor  at  this  time  should  be  related  largely  to 
the  nativity,  rather  than  to  the  achievements  of  America's 
statesman  and  martyr.  I  was  pleased  that  in  the  preparation 
of  the  few  remarks  I  shall  submit  I  confined  myself  to  facts 
touching  his  nativity  rather  than  his  achievements  or  death. 

The  devotees  of  Christianity  have  among  their  finest  pictures, 
upon  which  has  been  expended  the  genius  of  many  artists  in  all 
the  ages,  the  "Nativity."  The  "Nativity"  graces  the  walls  of 
all  the  great  art  galleries  where  the  divine  touch  of  the  artist 
has  been  made  imperishable  for  the  view  and  admiration  of  men. 
I  trust  that  some  American  artist  in  the  years  to  come  will  make 
classic  the  American  "Nativity";  and  that  the  subject  will  be 
the  birthplace  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

The  LINCOLN  homestead  of  which  we  speak  has  a  record  run- 
ning first  from  the  Crown  of  England  to  the  colony  of  Virginia. 
Then  resting  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  finally  through  private 
conveyances  it  reached  the  name  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  father 
of  the  martyred  President.  What  a  strange  train  of  events  has 
passed  since  the  title  granted  by  the  Crown  to  the  title  now 
granted  to  the  Republic.  During  that  time,  of  course,  there  has 
been  much  added  value.  The  acreage  has  been  reduced  and  the 
wildwood  has  been  removed.  Spacious  and  imposing  buildings 
have  been  erected  thereon.  There  is  carried,  in  addition  to  the 
value  of  realty,  valuable  personal  property  amounting  to  $50,000. 
But  how  insignificant  is  that  added  value  when  we  consider  the 
value  that  the  name,  fame,  and  achievements  of  ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN  have  contributed  to  the  American  Republic. 

Clustering  around  LINCOLN'S  natal  year  are  grouped  the  birth 
of  many  characters  far-famed  for  their  achievements. 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

Charles  Robert  Darwin,  whose  study  and  communion  with 
nature  passed  its  artificial  bounds,  was  born  the  same  day  as 
LINCOLN.  He  saw  demonstrated  far-reaching  and  progressive 
laws  which,  now  indorsed  by  the  scientific  world,  has  advanced 
scientific  research  further  than  had  been  accomplished  since 
Lord  Bacon's  inductive  philosophy  overthrew  the  system  of 
Aristotle  300  years  before.  February  3,  1809,  over  in  Germany, 
Mendelssohn,  whose  divine  touch,  combined  with  creative  genius 
made  him  one  of  the  world's  princes  of  harmony,  was  born. 

January  19,  1809,  came  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  that  weird  poet  of 
the  night  and  storm,  whose  eccentric  genius,  both  assailed  and 
defended  by  critics,  has  left  its  impress  on  American  verse,  fur- 
nishing that  rare  accomplishment — a  distinctive  style. 

In  the  same  year  Lord  Tennyson,  Britain's  greatest  laureate, 
was  born  in  England.  He  said  "Better  fifty  years  of  Europe 
than  a  cycle  of  Cathay."  Well  might  it  now  be  written:  "Bet- 
ter a  century  of  America  than  a  millennium  of  Europe." 

In  that  same  year  Gladstone,  Britain's  greatest  statesman 
since  the  day  of  Pitt  and  Peel,  first  saw  the  light. 

In  America  that  year  gave  us  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  wit, 
humorist,  poet,  and  philosopher,  to  lighten  the  hearts  and  in- 
struct the  minds  of  his  countrymen. 

That  year  also  gave  us  Cyrus  McCormick,  who  invented  the 
American  reaper,  which  has  contributed  so  largely  to  our  agri- 
cultural production. 

In  the  Hall  of  Fame,  based  upon  the  world's  general  esti- 
mate, all  of  these  occupy  commanding  positions,  but  easily 
towering  above  them  all  stands  LINCOLN. 

He  first  looked  upon  the  sun  from  a  lonely  environment,  the 
wildwood  cabin  in  the  then  county  of  Hardin  (now  county  of 
Larue),  in  the  new  State  of  Kentucky,  which  had  at  that  time, 
through  the  chronicles  of  Boone  and  his  contemporaries,  eanied 
the  sanguinary  appellation  of  "Dark  and  bloody  ground." 
Christ  was  born,  not  in  a  walled  city,  nor  yet  in  the  contending 
capitals  of  Samaria  or  Jerusalem.  His  nativity  was  humble 
Bethlehem.  The  nativity  of  LINCOLN  was  not  in  intellectual 
Massachusetts,  commercial  New  York,  or  chivalric  Virginia. 
His  parents  were  as  unambitious  as  their  forest  home  would 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

indicate.  What  ancestral  strain  of  purpose,  character,  and 
mind  with  which  he  was  endowed  came  from  his  mother.  One 
of  those  mothers  who,  suppressed  by  her  position  and  burdened 
by  her  cares,  can  seldom  command  the  recognition  due,  except 
it  be  in  the  generation  delayed,  when  the  plaudits  are  given  to 
the  words  and  deeds  of  a  wise  or  successful  son.  And  in  this 
way  will  the  American  people  remember  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln. 

At  this  time  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  inspired  author  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  strict  constructionist  of 
the  American  Constitution,  was  just  closing  his  second  presi- 
dential term.  Napoleon  had  but  recently  strengthened  America 
and  weakened  Europe  by  the  sale  of  the  Louisiana  Territory 
to  the  United  States.  He  was  at  that  time  walking  on  the 
writhing  forms  of  European  kings.  The  sun  of  Austerlitz  had 
risen,  Jena  and  Friedland  had  been  won,  and  Europe  rocked 
at  his  feet  as  he  stood  at  the  zenith  of  his  power,  while  kings 
became  his  subjects,  and  emperors,  to  no  purpose,  were  combin- 
ing against  him.  When  LINCOLN  was  born,  there  was  yet  to  come 
the  conflagration  of  Moscow,  the  snows  of  the  north,  Waterloo, 
St.  Helena,  and  a  rocky  tomb.  Such  was  the  setting  surround- 
ing the  date  which  ushered  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  into  the  world. 

Nor  would  this  setting  be  complete  if  it  were  not  noted  that 
in  the  same  dark  and  bloody  realm,  in  a  community  now  part 
of  the  county  of  Todd,  within  less  than  a  year  of  LINCOLN'S 
birth,  Jefferson  Davis  was  born.  Less  than  a  hundred  miles 
separated  their  birthplaces,  but  throughout  their  momentous 
careers  there  was  little  convergence,  yet  had  a  strange  relation. 

Two  companion  snowdrops,  pure,  clear,  and  crystalline,  as 
they-  fall  touch  the  loftiest  peak  of  the  mountain  chain.  They 
freeze  into  a  mighty  mass,  which  yields  to  nothing  except  the 
wooing  of  the  summer  sun ;  and  while  they  lie  but  a  few  inches 
apart,  in  their  melting  mass  each  moves  down  a  different  slope; 
each  finds  its  mountain  torrent  conveying  it  to  flooded  river, 
and  that  swollen  river  to  the  sea.  One  reaches  the  turbulent 
Atlantic,  the  other  the  peaceful  Pacific.  Davis  moved  south- 
wardly to  Mississippi,  the  then  great  cotton  State,  where  slavery 
thrived.  LINCOLN  found  his  way  through  Indiana  to  the 
prairies  of  Illinois,  where  labor  was  free. 


73 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    L  in  coin 

One  year's  schooling  was  the  measure  of  LINCOLN'S  scholastic 
opportunity.  Jefferson  Davis,  well  taught,  was  later  educated 
at  West  Point. 

Each  presided  during  four  years  of  tragedy  over  a  Republic. 
The  one  Republic  struggled  for  an  existence,  the  other  battled 
to  maintain  its  integrity  undiminished.  There  was  citizenship 
sufficient  for  the  two  greatest  Republics  on  earth,  but  I  rejoice 
to  hear  from  either  side  of  this  hall  the  satisfaction  that  but 
one  remains. 

The  cabin  home  this  afternoon  being  considered  was  in  the 
State  which  produced  these  two  great  characters.  In  that  great 
struggle  it  seemed,  as  it  were,  that  that  State  could  not  decide 
between  the  fortunes  of  her  two  matchless  sons.  It  presented  a 
divided  allegiance.  This  measure  furnishes  to-day  a  fitting  text 
for  fraternal,  patriotic  sentiment  from  every  part  of  this  ex- 
panded Union. 

Above  his  body  at  the  Springfield  home  stands  a  monument 
viewed  annually  by  tens  of  thousands.  At  the  entrance  to  the 
great  park  at  Chicago  which  bears  his  name,  in  heroic  mold 
stands  in  imperishable  bronze  one  of  the  most  imposing  statues 
of  America.  It  was  a  triumph  of  the  genius  of  St.  Gaudens, 
America's  premier  sculptor.  Hundreds  of  thousands  who  visit 
the  great  metropolis  by  the  lake  view  it  annually,  departing 
with  inspiration  of  renewed  partiotism.  At  the  National  Capital 
soon  to  be  completed  near  the  scene  of  his  activities,  is  a  mag- 
nificent Greek  temple  erected  to  the  memory  of  LINCOLN.  Few 
out  of  the  multitudes  annually  visiting  Washington  will  fail  to 
visit  it  and  render  tribute  to  LINCOLN'S  memory.  But  down  in 
Kentucky  is  the  fourth  LINCOLN  shrine.  In  point  of  reference 
and  sequence  it  should  be  first,  because  it  points  to  origin  as  the 
others  call  our  attention  to  achievement,  fame,  mortality. 
Collectively  they  evidence  to  all  the  ages  the  miracle  of  the  Re- 
public. Humility  of  origin  with  greatness  of  soul  are  the  step- 
ping stones  to  primacy  among  men.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  McKiNLEY.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  one-half  a  minute  to 
the  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Fess]. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Fess]  is  recog- 
nized for  half  a  minute. 

74 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  FESS,  OF  OHIO 

Mr.  Chairman,  listening  to  the  address  of  Gen.  Sherwood,  a 
reference  to  a  certain  event — the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sum- 
ter — indicated  to  me  that  the  significance  of  the  vote  to-day  will 
be  intensified  when  we  recall  that  this  is  the  anniversary  of  the 
opening  of  the  Civil  War. 

Fifty-five  years  ago  to-day  Edwin  Ruffin  fired  the  first  gun  at 
Fort  Surnter,  and  I  thought  that  it  would  be  significant  just  to 
remind  Congress  of  that  incident. 

And  5 1  years  ago  day  after  to-morrow  will  be  the  anniversary 
of  the  assassination  or  of  the  shot  that  eventuated  in  the  death 
of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  so  that  these  two  incidents  give  intensity 
to  the  vote  upon  this  occasion  to-day.  I  wanted  by  recalling 
those  incidents  of  that  particular  time  to  refresh  the  memory 
of  the  House. 

Mr.  McKiNLEY.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  five  minutes  to  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Switzer]. 


75 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  SWITZER,  OF  OHIO 

Mr.  Chairman,  it  will  always  be  to  me  a  fond  remembrance 
to  recall  that  as  a  Member  of  the  American  Congress  I  not  only 
had  the  opportunity  but  that  I  availed  myself  of  the  privilege  to 
vote  for  the  appropriations  made  for  the  construction  of  that 
magnificent  memorial,  now  nearing  completion,  in  the  Capital 
of  the  Nation  to  the  memory  of  the  great  Civil  War  President, 
"God's  grandest  gift  of  man  to  men" — ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
From  the  ranks  of  the  frontiersmen  he  rose  to  the  Presidency 
of  the  Nation.  This  obscure  country  lawyer  did  not  believe 
that  the  Nation  could  survive  half  slave  and  half  free.  He  was 
firmly  convinced  that  "a  house  divided  against  if  self  could  not 
stand."  Regardless  of  the  contention  that  it  would  be  uncon- 
stitutional so  to  do,  he  found  a  way  to  liberate  4,000,000  bonds- 
men and  still  preserve  the  Union. 

Charged  with  the  commission  of  all  manner  of  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors  and  unconstitutional  acts  while  in  office,  no 
man  was  more  reviled  than  he;  yet  to-day  no  name  is  more 
lauded  and  revered  than  his.  All  sects,  creeds,  and  parties  vie 
with  one  another  in  loud  protestation  of  their  great  loyalty 
and  high  respect  for  the  opinions  held  and  for  the  principles 
and  policies  advocated  by  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Time  has  vindi- 
cated the  absolute  justice  of  his  course,  and  silenced  the  carp- 
ing criticisms  of  his  enemies  beyond  the  peradventure  of  a 
murmur. 

In  dedicating  to  the  Nation  the  birthplace  of  this  illustrious 
American,  Kentucky  gives  renewed  luster  and  added  fame  to 
her  already  immortal  name.  The  Nation  through  its  Congress 
accepts  this  token  of  high  respect  to  the  memory  of  our  martyred 
President  as  the  most  magnanimous  of  the  many  generous 
and  noble  deeds  for  which  the  people  of  the  great  State  of 
Kentucky  are  so  famed.  The  dark  and  bloody  ground,  the  home 
of  Daniel  Boone  and  other  noted  pioneers,  by  this  patriotic  act 
is  consecrated  anew  to  that  Jeffersonian  idea  of  liberty,  the 

77 


Homestead    of  A  br  a  ham    Lincoln 

equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  which  was  ever  so  near  and 
dear  to  the  heart  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  As  the  generations 
come  and  go,  we  trust  that  they  may  not  only  travel  to  the  last 
resting  place  of  this  great  man  and  visit  the  Nation's  memorial 
to  his  name,  but  that  they  may  also  journey  to  the  scenes  of  his 
childhood,  and  at  the  fountain  head  of  his  noble  life  drink  deep 
the  holy  inspiration  which  has  animated  this  tribute  of  patriotic 
citizens  to  the  crowning  glory  of  the  Nation — the  final  memo- 
rialization  of  the  birthplace,  the  life,  and  the  last  resting  place 
of  LINCOLN.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  MANN.  I  yield  five  minutes  to  the  gentleman  from  Ver- 
mont [Mr.  Dale]. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  DALE,  OF  VERMONT 

Mr.  Chairman,  a  new  Member  finds  it  interesting  to  watch  a 
bill  on  its  way  through  this  House  and  to  observe  the  statements 
that  carry  effect  in  its  passage. 

During  the  past  week  there  have  been  indications  that  sec- 
tional and  conflicting  interests  will  continue  as  long  as  there 
is  water  in  rivers  and  harbors;  but,  Mr.  Chairman",  to  one  com- 
ing from  the  far  North  and  meeting  in  this  forum  the  generous, 
loyal  men  of  the  South  it  is  pleasant  to  quickly  perceive  that  the 
time  is  past  when  argument  pan  gain  force  here  from  those  old 
war  issues  that  lie  buried  under  principles  that  we  now  all 
welcome  as  immortal.  [Applause.] 

When  we  speak  here  of  the  leaders  of  that  period  of  strife 
that  was  we  summon  quickest  response  at  mention  of  the  human 
sympathy  in  each  for  all  the  embattled  hosts.  In  the  final 
judgment  of  mankind  upon  the  great  men  of  history  it  is  kindli- 
ness which  survives  the  brightest.  It  is  that  which  ennobles 
the  manner  in  which  the  heavy  obligations  of  the  South  were 
assumed  when  they  were  laid  on  the  well-nigh  breaking  heart 
of  Robert  E.  Lee.  Because  the  man  of  whom  we  speak  to-day 
was,  in  his  high  position,  distinctly  gentle  and  considerate, 
Members  from  the  Southland  give  cordial  support  to  this  pend- 
ing measure.  For  this  reason  they  express  tender  and  heroic 
sentiments  that  are  tributes  of  the  finest  nature  to  the  char- 
acter of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Artistic  skill  may  well  exhaust 
itself  in  memory  of  the  kindliness  of  this  supreme  man ;  but  the 
substance  of*  the  expression  of  that  quality  is  elusive,  and  it 
may  leave  the  marble  hall  for  the  log  cabin,  its  natural  home. 
There  we  find  the  best  expression  of  that  broad  sympathy  that 
went  out  through  all  the  cabins  of  the  North  and  of  the  West 
and  awakened  heroic  impulse  in  the  youth  of  the  common 
people. 

When  the  Third  Regiment  from  the  State  of  Vermont  was 
formed  it  included  many  men  who  were  born  in  log  cabins.  In 


38796°— 16 6 


79 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  a  ham    L  in  coin 

that  regiment,  as  it  camped  up  here  on  the  Potomac  10  miles 
away,  was  a  boy,  William  Scott,  who,  while  doing  double  service 
for  his  comrades,  fell  asleep  on  picket,  was  court-martialed,  and 
condemned  to  be  shot.  Then  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  the 
President  of  this  great  Nation  at  war,  wearied  as  he  must  have 
been,  ordered  his  horse  and  carriage  and  rode  out  to  save  the 
life  of  that  young  boy.  In  the  pitiful  affair  at  Lees  Mill  he 
fell,  whispering  a  prayer  for  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  Enlisted  with 
him  were  three  Stevens  brothers,  sons  of  a  widowed  mother  in 
my  home.  One  of  those  boys  fell  at  Lees  Mill,  one  was  the  first 
to  be  shot  out  here  on  the  Rockville  Pike  in  the  battle  for  the 
defense  of  this  Capital,  and  one  went  home  disabled  for  life. 
These  boys  and  all  those  like  them  felt  the  inspiration  of  this 
great  man,  and  it  enabled  them  to  face  danger  more  easily,  and 
it  took  away  from  them  the  sting  of  death. 

Incomparable  man  that  he  was,  where  do  we  find  the  source  of 
his  inspiration  ? 

In  that  humble  home  there  came  to  him,  earlier  than  memory, 
the  consciousness  of  one  who  was  the  very  substance  of  patience 
and  tenderness  and  mercy,  and  was  to  him  the  origin  of  justice. 
In  her  face  he  beheld  first  the  expression  of  the  infinite  qualities 
that  made  his  own  character  sublime.  In  that  there  is  reason 
enough  to  save  the  old  log  cabin. 

All  his  life  was  unnatural  in  that  it  forced  ill  causes  to  good 
effects.  In  form  and  feature  he  was  rough  shapen  and  plain, 
but  through  relief  of  agony  to  many  he  became  the  handsomest 
man  in  all  the  world.  The  legislature  rejected  him  for  the  Sen- 
ate, and  out  of  disappointment  he  made  humor  by  saying  that 
he  felt  like  the  boy  who  stumped  his  toe — too  hurt  to  laugh  and 
too  big  to  cry. 

He  came  to  his  inauguration  in  a  guarded  trail}  along  a  line 
where  the  telegraph  wires  had  been  cut  that  men  might  not  shoot 
him,  and  above  the  cloud  of  threatened  intent  rose  the  spirit 
that  impelled  him  to  drive  all  night  to  save  a  boy  from  being  shot. 

The  multitude  besieged  him  to  dull  weariness,  and  it  made 
sensitive  a  tone  in  his  nature  that  felt  response  to  the  cry  of  an 
infant  in  the  throng,  and  he  said,  "Send  in  next  that  woman 
with  a  baby."  He  was  called  a  countryman,  unfit  for  official 


So 


Homestead    of  A  br  a  ham    Lin  co  In 

place,  but  when  the  telegram  came  from  the  man  in  command 
of  the  Armies  in  the  great  crisis  of  the  war  indicating  the  fearful 
loss  of  life  that  must  follow,  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  observing 
him  as  he  moved  among  and  counseled  with  the  polished  and 
able  gentlemen  of  his  Cabinet,  said  that  his  grace  of  manner  and 
wisdom  of  expression  were  superb.  When  at  last  that  group 
of  eminent  statesmen  who  had  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  he 
lacked  the  ability  to  be  President  stood  over  him,  and  it  was 
said  "now  he  belongs  to  the  ages,"  his  life  closed  in  a  splendor 
of  blending  contrasts. 

In  that  rude  shelter  of  his  childhood  there  dwells  more  than 
in  statue  or  memorial  the  emotion  of  that  process  by  which  his 
own  want  increased  his  sense  of  human  need  and  made  him 
generous. 

The  common  comforts  of  life,  the  just  estimate  of  men,  and 
all  the  elements  of  equity,  he  knew  only  through  the  giving  of 
them  to  others. 

Out  of  longing  that  grew  intense  by  denial  the  very  passion  of 
his  humor  and  tenderness  and  mercy  became  supreme.  That 
which  he  found  not  for  himself  he  gave  in  abundance  to  others, 
and  his  whole  life  was  passed  in  bringing  from  resisting  condi- 
tions marvelous  results. 

Nothing  indicates  so  well  the  life  that  was  itself  a  contrast, 
a  paradox,  the  meager  compensation  that  came  to  him  and  his 
rich  bestowment  to  the  Nation  as  the  log  cabin  and  the  marble 
hall  by  which  it  is  inclosed. 

Ah,  Mr.  Chairman,  let  us  preserve  this  old  log  cabin,  that 
generations  may  learn  from  it  the  qualities  that  there  had  birth 
and  are  changeless  and  deathless  forever.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  CLARK  of  Florida.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  yield  10  minutes  to 
the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Barkley]. 


81 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  BARKLEY,  OF  KENTUCKY 

Mr.  Chairman,  if  it  were  necessary  to  apologize  to  the  House 
on  this  occasion  for  occupying  its  time  for  a  few  moments,  I 
feel  that  it  would  be  sufficient  to  say  that  my  reason  for  speak- 
ing is  not  only  the  fact  that  I,  in  part,  represent  the  State  in 
which  LINCOLN  was  born,  but  also  from  boyhood  I  have  been 
tremendously  interested  in  his  character  and  career. 

It  is  very  appropriate  that  during  this  year  the  LINCOLN  farm 
should  be  donated  to  and  accepted  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  for  it  is  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
removal  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  from  Kentucky  to  Indiana,  he 
having  crossed  with  his  family  the  Ohio  River  in  1816,  never 
thereafter  having  returned,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  the  place  of  his 
birth. 

If  time  were  afforded  I  should  like  to  recount  the  names  of 
those  men  who,  during  the  history  of  this  Nation,  have  gone 
out  from  Kentucky  to  bless  the  civilization  of  every  State  in 
the  Union  and  the  Nation  itself  as  a  whole.  If  I  could  recount 
the  names  of  the  governors  and  Senators  and  Members  of  this 
House,  the  ambassadors  to  foreign  nations,  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  the  teachers  of  men,  and  the  long  list  of  worthy  sons 
in  every  walk  of  life,  whose  birthplaces  were  in  the  same  State 
in  which  is  located  this  remarkable  home  which  gave  LINCOLN 
to  the  Nation,  I  am  sure  I  might  be  able  to  enlist  your  admira- 
tion for  the  product  of  that  great  State  on  whose  soil  LINCOLN 
himself  was  born.  To  Kentucky  has  frequently  been  ascribed 
the  honor  of  producing  a  variety  of  things  for  the  benefit  of 
humanity,  but  I  think  we  may  properly,  on  this  occasion,  refer 
to  the  great  men,  as  well  as  the  great  women,  who  have  gone 
out  from  that  State  and  mingled  with  the  people  of  every  sec- 
tion, all  with  honor  to  themselves  and  credit  to  their  native 
State. 

In  all  this  list  two  names  stand  out  preeminent.  One  is  the 
name  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  the  other  is  the  name  of  ABRAHAM 

83 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  co  In 

LINCOLN.  We  frequently  marvel  at  the  peculiar  and  fortuitous 
circumstances  by  which  the  careers  of  men  are  hedged  about. 
But  who  can  explain  on  any  other  theory  than  the  guidance  of 
a  providential  hand  the  fact  that  both  Jefferson  Davis  and 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  rival  leaders  in  the  great  Civil  War,  were 
born  under  Kentucky's  sun,  and  were  nestled  to  the  bosom  of 
two  of  her  noble  women  ? 

I  shall  not  attempt  in  this  brief  address  to  icfer,  except  inci- 
dentally, to  the  statesmanship  or  to  the  achievements  of  LIN- 
COLN in  public  life,  because,  after  all,  these  are  not  the  things 
that  grip  our  hearts;  these  are  not  the  things  that  cause  us  to 
shed  a  tear  to-day  over  the  grave  of  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  I  pre- 
fer, on  this  occasion,  to  let  my  mind  run  back  to  the  little  humble 
cabin  in  Kentucky,  where  LINCOLN,  in  1809,  first  looked  upon 
a  world  of  wonders.  I  prefer  to  think  of  him  "cooning"  a 
log  across  Knob  Creek  at  the  age  of  5  and  falling  into  its  waters 
and  having  to  be  pulled  out  by  a  companion  just  in  time  to 
prevent  him  from  drowning.  I  prefer  to  think  of  him  at  the 
age  of  7,  holding  to  his  mother's  hand,  as  he  and  she  per- 
formed their  last  duty  before  leaving  Kentucky  by  visiting  the 
little  grave  of  the  baby  boy  who  was  born  and  died  in  those 
lonely  hills,  from  which,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  he  was  never 
removed.  I  prefer  to  think  of  LINCOLN  to-day  reading  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  his  mother  night  after  night  as  she  lay  upon  her 
deathbed  in  that  lonely  home  in  Indiana. 

I  prefer  to  think  of  him  as  he  wrote  his  first  letter,  at  the  age 
of  10  or  n,  asking  an  old  Kentucky  preacher,  whom  he  had 
known  before  his  removal  to  Indiana,  to  come  over  and  preach 
his  mother's  funeral,  a  service  which  could  not  be  performed 
for  lack  of  a  minister  at  the  time  of  her  burial.  I  prefer  to 
think  of  LINCOLN  to-day  as  he  wept  over  the  grave  of  beloved 
Ann  Rutledge,  his  heart  bleeding  as  no  other  heart  could  bleed, 
and  exclaiming  as  he  fell  upon  the  new-made  mound:  "Here 
lies  the  body  of  Ann  Rutledge  and  the  heart  of  ABE;  LINCOLN." 

These  are  the  things  that  endear  LINCOLN  to  us  and  to  our 
memory,  because  these  are  the  things  that  touch  our  sympathy; 
these  are  the  incidents  which  appeal  to  us  most  strongly  in  the 
early  life  of  him  whose  whole  career  comprises  the  greatest 


Homestead    o  f  A  br  ah  am    Lincoln 

individual  tragedy  which  has  been  enacted  upon  the  stage  of 
American  national  life.  These  touch  the  tender  chords  and  the 
wellsprings  of  the  human  heart,  and  we  forget  the  Gettysburg 
speech  and  the  second  inaugural  address  and  the  Douglas  de- 
bates. We  forget  his  struggle  with  his  Cabinet  and  with  the 
tremendous  problems  with  which  he  was  surrounded  and  con- 
fronted. All  these  things  for  the  day  are  put  aside,  and  we 
remember  the  lonely,  tragic  boyhood  of  this  wonderful  man 
and  faintly  realize  the  moral  foundation,  formed  as  he  passed 
through  these  crucibles  of  the  human  heart,  which  enabled  him 
to  give  expression  in  the  heat  of  a  great  political  campaign  to 
the  sublime  sentiment,  "  I  am  not  bound  to  win,  but  I  am  bound 
to  be  right,"  a  sentiment  whose  meaning  ought  to  be  applied 
with  double  force  in  the  perilous  times  in  which  we  live  both  to 
public  problems  and  to  public  men. 

As  we  think  of  this  great  character,  coming  as  he  did  from 
Kentucky,  we  remember  with  great  pride  that  in  his  veins  was 
infused  the  same  blood  and  in  his  heart  the  same  spirit  that 
emboldened  Daniel  Boone,  the  Kentucky  pioneer,  to  cut  and 
fight  his  way  into  a  wilderness  and  help  to  carve  out  of  it  one 
of  the  greatest  Commonwealths  of  this  Nation,  for  LINCOLN 
himself  was  a  relative  of  Daniel  Boone,  his  grandfather  having 
been  a  cousin  of  the  great  pioneer.  And  I  am  glad  to  say  in 
passing  that  this  rugged  courage  which  guided  the  life  of  LIN- 
COLN and  of  Boone  is  still  to  be  found  among  the  sons  of  old 
Kentucky,  for  we  have  it  typified  in  the  rugged  honesty  and 
sterling  character  of  our  own  Speaker  of  the  House,  Champ 
Clark,  of  Missouri,  who  himself  was  born  and  reared  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  also  in  the  leader  of  the  minority,  Mr.  Mann,  who 
although  not  having  been  born  in  that  State  itself,  yet  boasts 
that  his  forbears  came  from  that  soil  which  gave  to  the  Nation 
and  to  the  world  Jefferson  Davis  and  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 
[Applause.] 

We  have  heard  many  stories  of  LINCOLN,  and  I  confess  that 
I  never  tire  of  reading  or  hearing  the  stories  about  him.  These 
stories  which  illustrate  the  humanity  of  LINCOLN  are  not  con- 
fined to  his  boyhood,  nor  to  his  young  manhood,  but  are  found 
all  through  his  mature  manhood,  when  the  burdens  of  public 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

duties  were  heaviest  upon  his  shoulders.  The  other  day  I  read 
a  very  pathetic  story  which  touched  my  heart,  and  which  illus- 
trates forcibly  the  truth  of  the  quotation,  "He  who  stoops  to 
lift  the  fallen,  does  not  stoop  but  stands  erect."  There  was  a 
schoolhouse  somewhere  near  the  back  yard  of  the  White  Plouse, 
and  as  the  boys  played  across  the  fence,  from  day  to  day,  LIN- 
COLN frequently  went  out  to  watch  them.  One  day  the  teacher 
decided  to  give  the  boys  a  lesson  in  neatness,  and  commanded 
them  that  they  should  have  their  shoes  fresh  shined  before  com- 
ing to  school  the  following  day.  The  next  day  the  boys  came  to 
school  with  their  faces  and  hands  clean,  with  clean  clothes  upon 
themselves,  and  with  their  shoes  all  shined.  There  was  one 
little  one-armed  boy,  however,  the  son  of  a  dead  soldier  who 
had  given  his  life  in  the  Civil  War,  whose  mother  made  her 
living  here  in  Washington  as  a  washerwoman,  who  had  no 
blacking  in  the  house,  and  consequently  he  undertook  to  shine 
his  shoes  with  stove  polish.  When  he  reached  the  school,  his 
shoes  shined  with  stove  polish,  the  other  pupils  began  to  ridicule 
him,  and  his  little  heart  was  filled  with  sorrow  and  humiliation. 
Mr.  LINCOLN,  hearing  the  gibes  at  the  little  one-armed  fellow, 
made  a  detailed  inquiry  and  ascertained  the  cause  of  the  trouble. 
The  next  day  Mr.  LINCOLN  took  this  little  boy  and  bought  him 
two  new  pairs  of  shoes,  two  suits  of  clothes,  and  bought  for  his 
sisters  new  linen  and  dresses,  and  sent  groceries  and  clothes  to 
the  home  of  his  mother.  He  then  put  in  the  boy's  hands  a  note 
to  the  teacher,  in  which  he  asked  her  to  place  upon  the  black- 
board the  following  words:  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my  brethern,  ye*have  done  it 
also  unto  Me."  A  few  days  later  he  took  occasion  to  visit  the 
schoolhouse  in  person,  and  finding  the  quotation  still  on  the 
board,  he  asked  for  a  piece  of  crayon,  and  going  to  the  board 
he  said,  "Boys,  I  have  another  quotation  from  the  Bible  in  my 
mind  that  I  want  to  put  under  this  other  one,  that  you  may  ob- 
serve it  and  apply  it  to  your  future  lives."  And  then  he  wrote, 
"It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,"  and  wrote  under 
it  his  simple  signature,  "A.  LINCOLN." 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  turmoil  of  our  modern-day  politics,  in 
the  confusion  of  our  political  rivalry,  and  in  the  narrowness  and 


86 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

bitterness  of  our  partisan  fights  in  Congress,  let  us  to-day  re- 
kindle our  hope  and  faith  in  the  destiny  of  that  Nation  to  which 
LINCOLN  gave  his  life  and  let  us  hope  that  in  the  years  that  are 
to  come  we  and  our  children  and  our  children's  children  for  a 
thousand  generations  may  more  and  more  appreciate  the  sim- 
plicity and  sublimity  of  LINCOLN'S  character,  to  the  end  that  we 
may  contribute  to  the  consummation  of  that  spirit  of  public 
devotion  and  common  well-being  which  will  enable  us  to  say 
with  him,  "I  am  not  bound  to  win,  but  I  am  bound  to  be 
right."  [Applause.] 

The  State  of  Kentucky  is  glad  to  give  to  the  Nation  this  hum- 
ble, yet  sacred  little  farm,  whose  one  great  product  is  to-day 
the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  when  future  generations  shall 
view  this  little  home,  this  log  cabin  in  the  hills  of  Kentucky, 
may  they  be  inspired  with  the  hope  that  the  flag  which  hangs 
above  your  head,  for  which  LINCOLN,  as  well  as  countless  others 
before  and  after  him,  gave  all  that  they  had — their  lives — and 
the  Union  for  which  it  stands,  may  always  mean  what  he 
thought  it  ought  to  mean,  the  equality  of  man  before  the  law, 
and  the  equality  to  pursue  the  legitimate  objects  of  happiness 
and  of  service  without  regard  to  clime  or  creed  or  section. 
[Applause.] 

As  the  Nation  will  this  day  accept  the  gift  of  the  LINCOLN 
farm,  may  we  not  hope  that  at  a  day  not  long  postponed  a 
similar  acceptance  may  be  registered  of  the  Davis  home,  and 
that  these  two  spots,  not  far  from  each  other  in  the  soil  of 
Kentucky,  may  be  enshrined  in  the  love  and  imagination  of 
patriots  everywhere,  typifying  the  reunion  of  heaft  and  hope 
and  hand  through  which  our  common  country  shall  more  and 
more  become  the  land  of  opportunity  and  the  beacon  light  of 
liberty  for  us  and  all  who  shall  follow  us,  which  shall  become 
brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day.  [Applause.] 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  RAINEY,  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  Chairman,  52  years  ago  the  campaign  for  the  reelection  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  opening.  The  real  issues  were  sur- 
prisingly similar  to  the  issues  of  to-day.  The  same  arguments 
were  being  used  for  and  against  the  reelection  of  LINCOLN  as  are 
being  used  to-day  and  will  be  used  throughout  the  campaign 
which  is  opening  for  and  against  the  reelection  of  President 
Wilson. 

LINCOLN    STRONGLY    OPPOSED    BY    PROMINENT    LEADERS    IN    HIS 
OWN    PARTY,    BUT   HIS    STRENGTH   WAS   WITH   THE    PEOPLE. 

On  page  183  of  the  very  excellent  work  of  A.  K.  McClure, 
Our  Presidents:  How  We  Make  Them,  Dr.  McClure  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  prominent  leaders  of  LINCOLN'S  own  party 
were  bitterly  opposed  to  LINCOLN  and  were  opposed  even  to 
accepting  him  as  a  candidate.  Chase,  Wade,  Henry  Winter 
Davis,  and  Horace  Greeley  were  among  those  who  did  not  think 
LINCOLN  would  make  the  best  candidate.  Sumner  was  not 
heartily  for  him.  Stevens  was  earnestly  opposed  to  him  "be- 
cause he  had  not  pressed  confiscation  and  other  punishments 
against  the  South,  and  the  extreme  radical  wing  of  the  Repub- 
lican Party  was  aggressive  in  its  hostility.  LINCOLN'S  strength 
was  with  the  people,  and  they  overwhelmed  the  leaders  who 
sought  his  overthrow." 

There  are,  however,  few,  if  any,  men  prominent  in  Democratic 
councils  who  are  opposing  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Wilson ;  but  the 
real  strength  of  the  President  is  with  the  people. 

In  his  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  volume  i ,  page  530,  James  G. 
Elaine,  commenting  upon  the  presidential  elections  of  1864,  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  it  seemed  that  LINCOLN  would  be  de- 
feated. President  LINCOLN  thought  so  himself,  but  the  crisis 
through  which  the  country  was  passing  soon  brought  an  end  to 
mere  political  controversies. 

Mere  political  feeling  largely  subsided  and  the  people  were  actuated  by  a 
higher  sense  of  public  duty. 

89 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

In  this  connection  Mr.  Elaine  also  says : 

The  argument  for  Mr.  Lincoln 's  reelection  addressed  itself  with  irresistible 
force  to  the  patriotic  sentiment  and  sober  judgment  of  the  country. 

The  Nation  is  passing  through  a  crisis  now  in  its  history  as 
great  as  the  crisis  which  confronted  the  country  during  the  cam- 
paign of  LINCOLN  for  reelection  in  1864.  Fortunately  under  one 
flag,  the  48  great  States  of  this  Union  stand  united  against  the 
international  perils  which  confront  us.  Alone  among  the  great 
nations  of  the  earth,  we  must  accept  the  task  of  keeping  brightly 
burning  upon  the  seas,  as  well  as  on  the  continents,  the  lights  of 
civilization.  We  can  not  shrink  within  our  national  boundaries 
and  avoid  the  duties  imposed  upon  us  in  this  great  crisis  of  the 
world's  history.  We  can  not  permit  the  nations  of  the  earth  to 
sink  back  into  the  darkness  of  the  medieval  night.  We  confront 
a  world  in  arms.  Under  the  wise  guidance  of  President  Wilson 
we  have  so  far  been  able  to  uphold  the  standards  of  civilization 
and  escape  participation  in  the  present  struggle.  It  is  not  wise 
to  adopt  any  other  leadership. 

DISAPPOINTED  OFFICE  SEEKERS  IN  1864  AND  IMPATIENCE  WITH 
MR.  LINCOLN'S  CONSERVATIVE  METHODS. 

The  disappointments  among  those  who  had  not  succeeded  in 
their  ambition  to  secure  appointive  positions  were  more  marked 
during  LINCOLN'S  second  campaign  than  now.  The  Republican 
Party  was  absolutely  new  in  national  politics.  Thousands  of 
men  who  had  been  interested  in  its  prior  campaigns  and  who  had 
fought  hard  for  the  things  the  party  stood  for  had  not  been  able 
to  obtain  the  appointments  they  desired.  LINCOLN  had  at  his 
disposal  more  appointive  positions  than  President  Wilson  has 
had  at  his  disposal.  There  was  no  civil  service  in  those  days  and 
the  appointments  were  both  civil  and  military. 

James  G.  Elaine,  on  page  514  of  volume  i  of  his  Twenty  Years 
of  Congress,  calls  attention  to  this  situation : 

A  part  of  the  hostility  was  due  to  a  sincere  though  mistaken  impatience 
with  Mr.  LINCOLN'S  slow  and  conservative  methods  and  a  part  was  due  to 
political  resentments  and  ambitions.  The  more  radical  element  of  the 
party  was  not  content  with  the  President  fe  cautious  and  moderate  policy, 
but  insisted  that  he  should  proceed  to  extreme  measures  or  give  way  to  some 
bolder  leader  who  would  meet  these  demands.  Other  individuals  had  been 


90 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

aggrieved  by  personal  disappointments,  and  the  spirit  of  faction  could  not  be 
altogether  extinguished  even  amid  the  agonies  of  war.  There  were  civil  as 
well  as  military  offices  to  be  filled,  And  the  selection  among  candidates  put 
forward  in  various  interests  could  not  be  made  without  leaving  a  sense  of  dis- 
comfiture in  many  breasts. 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN   IN  THE  GREAT  CRISIS  WHICH  CONFRONTED 
THE   NATION   FREQUENTLY  CHANGED   HIS   MIND 

President  Wilson  is  charged  with  changing  his  position  on 
important  economic  questions.  In  this  present  period  of  rapid 
kaleidoscopic  changes  in  world  affairs  men  who  stand  still  will 
soon  find  themselves  standing  alone.  The  charges  of  changing 
his  mind  and  of  vacillation  urged  with  such  insistence  against 
President  Wilson  at  the  present  time  were  urged  with  equal 
insistence  and  vigor  against  President  LINCOLN  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1864,  and  in  order  to  meet  the  arguments  along  this 
line  it  was  necessary,  in  the  month  of  October,  1864,  to  bring 
back  from  the  front  a  popular  military  hero  to  deliver  an  ad- 
dress, which  was  at  once  widely  circulated,  on  this  very  subject- 
The  meeting  was  advertised  for  the  9th  day  of  October,  1864, 
and  on  that  day  one  of  the  greatest  mass  meetings  of  the  cam- 
paign assembled  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn.  The  military  hero 
who  was  brought  back  from  the  front  to  address  this  great 
meeting  was  Maj.  Gen.  Carl  Schurz.  President  LINCOLN  had 
already  made  an  answer  to  the  charge  of  changing  his  policies. 
After  reviewing  the  policies  and  the  particulars  upon  which 
President  LINCOLN  had  changed  his  position,  with  great  force 
and  effect,  Gen.  Schurz,  in  his  speech  on  that  occasion,  quoted 
from  LINCOLN  as  follows:  "I  am  not  controlling  events,  but 
events  are  controlling  me."  The  speech  was  printed  in  the 
New  York  papers  of  October  10,  1864,  and  was  widely  copied 
throughout  the  country.  People  saw  at  once  the  force  of  LIN- 
COLN'S position,  and  so  at  the  present  time,  in  the  great  crisis 
which  confronts  us  amidst  changing  world  conditions,  when  our 
industries  are  reaching  out  for  a  world  trade  they  never  had 
before,  and  when  the  charge  of  vacillation  and  changing  his 
mind  is  made  against  the  President  of  the  United  States,  we 
can  reply,  as  LINCOLN  replied  over  a  half  century  ago,  the 
President  is  not  controlling  events ;  events  are  controlling  him. 

91 


Homestead    of  A  br  ah  am    Lin  co  In 

THEY   CALLED   LINCOLN    NAMES   AND   ABUSED   HIM 

At  the  present  time  vile,  scandalous  terms  are  being  used  by 
critics  of  President  Wilson  and  his  policies  in  the  magazines 
and  newspapers  of  the  land.  These  terms  are  being  used  by 
writers  from  the  caliber  of  Owen  Wister,  with  his  mastery  of 
English,  down  to  the  most  insignificant  penny-a-liner  who 
writes  for  metropolitan  papers  in  great  cities,  but  they  have 
not  been  able  to  invent  as  many  opprobrious  words  as  were  used 
by  the  critics  of  LINCOLN  in  1 864.  The  New  York  Daily  Tribune 
of  Tuesday,  September  6,  1864,  assembles  some  of  the  names 
used  by  the  opponents  of  LINCOLN  in  and  out  of  his  party  in  the 
campaign  of  1864.  According  to  the  Tribune  these  are  some  of 
the  names  applied  to  LINCOLN  during  that  campaign:  "Filthy 
story-teller,"  "despot,"  "big  secessionist,"  "liar,"  "thief," 
"braggart,"  "buffoon,"  "usurper,"  "monster,"  "Ignoramus 
Abe,"  "old  scoundrel,"  "perjurer,"  "robber,"  "swindler,"  "ty- 
rant," "fiend,"  "butcher,"  "land  pirate,"  and  other  pleasant 
epithets. 

The  article  in  the  Tribune  assembling  these  terms  concludes 
as  follows : 

The  vocabulary  of  billingsgate  is  limited  and  their  ammunition  of  abuse 
may  be  exhausted  before  the  day  of  battle. 

So  may  we  not  hope  in  this  campaign  that  the  vocabulary 
of  billingsgate,  in  which  so  many  of  the  President's  opponents 
are  apparently  so  splendidly  skilled,  and  their  ammunition  of 
abuse  may  be  exhausted  before  the  day  of  battle  ?  But  whether 
it  is  or  not  it  will  have  no  effect  on  the  final  result. 

NOT    BEST    TO     SWAP    HORSES    WHILE     CROSSING     STREAMS 

This  was  the  argument  which  prevailed  in  LINCOLN'S  second 
campaign,  and  in  the  strangely  similar  campaign  which  opens 
now  before  us  this  appeals  most  strongly  to  men  of  all  parties. 
The  phrase  is  not  a  new  one.  It  has  been  used  in  American 
politics  from  1864  to  the  present  time.  Its  origin,  however, 
has  become  obscured.  It  may  be  interesting  at  the  present 
time  in  this  connection  to  call  attention  to  the  origin  of  this 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

expression  which  had  such  tremendous  effect  in  the  campaign 
of  1864. 

The  Republican  convention  closed  its  sittings  at  Baltimore 
on  the  9th  day  of  June,  1864.  On  the  next  day  a  committee 
selected  by  it  assembled  in  the  East  Room  of  the  White  House 
and  Gov.  Dennison,  who  had  been  president  of  the  convention 
and  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee,  addressed  the  Presi- 
dent officially,  conveying  to  him  the  information  as  to  the 
action  of  the  convention.  President  LINCOLN  replied,  accepting 
the  nomination  conferred  upon  him  and  approving  the  platform 
declarations.  This  meeting  in  the  East  Room  of  the  White 
House,  however,  attracted  not  the  slightest  attention  in  the 
campaign  which  followed;  but  on  the  afternoon  of  that  day  a 
number  of  the  members  of  the  National  Union  League  infor- 
mally called  on  the  President  at  the  White  House  to  congratu- 
late him  upon  his  renomination.  In  the  entirely  extemporane- 
ous address  made  by  LINCOLN  on  this  occasion  he  was  at  his 
best,  and  it  was  in  this  address  that  he  sounded  the  keynote  of 
the  campaign  which  followed.  After  expressing  his  thanks  for 
the  personal  compliments  paid  to  him  on  that  day  he  assured 
his  callers  that  the  only  compliment  he  was  entitled  to  appro- 
priate was  the  one  expressed  to  the  effect  that  he  might  hope 
that— 

I  am  not  entirely  unworthy  to  be  intrusted  with  the  place  I  have  occu- 
pied for  the  last  three  years.  I  have  not  permitted  myself,  gentlemen, 
to  conclude  that  I  am  the  best  man  in  the  country,  but  I  am  reminded 
on  this  occasion  of  the  story  of  an  old  Dutch  farmer  who  remarked  to  a 
companion  once  that  "it  is  not  best  to  swap  horses  when  crossing  streams." 

The  story  was  new  in  national  politics.  It  was  greeted  with 
tumultuous  applause  and  laughter  when  LINCOLN  related  it  in 
the  White  House  on  the  afternoon  following  the  adjournment 
of  the  Baltimore  convention.  It  was  reported  the  next  day  in 
the  New  York  Daily  Tribune  and  was  copied  throughout  the 
country.  It  found  a  place  in  the  campaign  literature  and  on 
the  campaign  banners  used  in  1864.  During  the  present  cam- 
paign which  so  strangely  parallels  the  second  LINCOLN  campaign 
it  can  appropriately  be  used  again. 


93 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

On  the  night  of  June  9,  at  a  great  meeting  at  the  Cooper 
Union  Institute  in  New  York  City,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Buddington,  of 
New  York,  in  his  eloquent  address  caught  the  spirit  of  the  ap- 
proaching campaign  and  alluded  to  Mr.  LINCOLN  as  the  man 
"who  was  and  is  leading  the  people  as  Moses  led  the  children  of 
Israel  through  the  Red  Sea,"  and  this  phrase,  along  with  the 
homely  story  of  LINCOLN,  became  popular  throughout  the  cam- 
paign which  followed.  The  story  told  by  LINCOLN  had  its  effect 
again  when  one  week  later  the  great  hall  of  the  Cooper  Insti- 
tute in  New  York  was  again  crowded  at  the  ratification  meet- 
ing of  the  Central  Union  LINCOLN  Campaign  Club,  of  New  York. 
On  the  platform  were  Peter  Cooper,  Theodore  Tilton,  and  others, 
but  the  greatest  enthusiasm  was  provoked  by  the  speech  of 
Hon.  Charles  S.  Spencer,  the  president  of  the  club,  when  he  said : 

We  have  no  disappointing  ambition,  no  personal  revenge  to  gratify. 
As  the  President  has  stood  by  the  country  in  the  hour  of  trial,  so  stand  we 
by  the  President. 

I  can  think  of  no  better  expression  than  this  with  which  to 
depict  the  sentiment  which  ought  to  prevail  and  will  prevail  in 
the  campaign  which  opens  now  for  the  reelection  of  President 
Wilson,  52  years  after  the  speech  of  Mr.  Spencer  was  delivered. 

The  New  York  Daily  Tribune  of  Wednesday,  September  14, 
1864,  calls  attention  to  the  appeal  for  the  reelection  of  LINCOLN 
sent  out  by  the  national  union  committee  from  its  headquarters 
in  New  York  City.  The  appeal  went  out  on  the  9th  day  of 
September,  1 864.  It  was  a  stirring  appeal  for  the  reelection  of 
LINCOLN.  It  was  in  harmony  with  the  sentiment  which  domi- 
nated the  campaign.  That  part  which  appealed  most  strongly 
to  the  country,  and  which  those  who  favor  the  reelection  of 
President  Wilson  can  appropriate  at  the  present  time,  read  as 
follows : 

We  call  upon  you  to  stand  by  the  President,  who  under  circumstances 
of  unparalled  difficulty  has  wielded  the  power  of  the  Nation  with  unfaltering 
courage  and  fidelity,  with  integrity  which  even  calumny  has  not  dared  to 
impeach  and  with  wisdom  and  prudence  upon  which  success  is  even  now 
stamping  the  surest  and  the  final  seal. 


94 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

In  Edward  Stanton's  History  of  the  Presidency,  on  page  299, 
referring  to  Mr.  LINCOLN'S  reelection,  he  calls  attention  to  LIN- 
COLN'S story,  which  he  does  not  quite  correctly  quote,  and  says: 

Mr.  LINCOLN  neither  obtrusively  urged  himself  as  a  candidate  for  re- 
election nor  made  any  coy  professions  of  unwillingness  to  be  chosen  again. 
He  was  simply  and  frankly  a  candidate.  He  believed  that  it  was  best  for 
the  country,  under  the  circumstances,  that  he  should  be  continued  in  office. 
It  was  not  good  policy  "to  swap  horses  while  crossing  a  stream." 

IMPORTANT  ISSUES  OP    1864   AND    1916  THE   SAME. 

No  matter  how  much  we  may  differ  on  the  question  of  the 
tariff  and  on  other  economic  subjects,  we  must  all  agree  that  the 
crisis  through  which  we  are  passing  as  a  Nation  at  the  present 
time  is  as  important  in  its  consequences  as  the  crisis  of  1864. 
The  same  questions  of  soul-stirring  patriotism  appear  again,  and, 
strangely,  the  same  methods  used  against  LINCOLN  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1864  are  being  used  now  by  the  enemies  in  all  parties 
of  President  Wilson.  May  we  not  hope  that  the  shafts  of  envy 
and  malice  aimed  now  against  President  Wilson  will  fall  as 
harmlessly  to  the  ground  as  they  did  in  the  second  LINCOLN 
campaign?  It  was  not  best  52  years  ago,  it  is  not  best  now  "  to 
swap  horses  while  crossing  streams." 


38796°— 16 7  95 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  MADDEN,  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  Speaker,  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  banks  of  the  Sangamon 
River,  a  small  stream  emptying  into  the  Illinois  River,  there 
lived  about  83  years  ago  a  long,  lank,  homely,  sad-eyed  rail 
splitter,  unknown  save  only  to  his  parents  and  a  few  scattering 
neighbors,  who,  like  himself,  were  eking  out  by  the  hardest 
kind  of  labor  a  mere  existence  in  a  then  wild  and  unpromising 
section  of  this  the  home  of  the  free  and  the  land  of  the  brave. 
He  was.  not  employed  by  the  hour,  day,  week,  month,  or  year, 
nor  did  he  receive  a  daily  wage  as  compensation  for  his  labor. 
He  worked  from  sunup  to  sundown,  and  when  he  had  piled  up 
400  rails  he  received  from  a  poor  widow  in  exchange  therefor 
enough  homespun  cloth  to  make  him  or  his  father  a  pair  of 
trousers. 

He  was  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  and  moved,  when  a  young 
man,  with  a  worthless  father,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  to  the  State 
of  Indiana,  and  after  sojourning  there  for  a  short  time  came  on 
to  Illinois,  where  they  built  a  log  cabin  on  a  bluff  near  the 
River  Sangamon,  when  the  young  man  soon  became  famous, 
not  only  as  the  champion  rail  splitter  of  his  county,  but  also  for 
his  ability  to  dispatch  hogs  with  lightninglike  rapidity,  and  for 
which  service  he  received  the  munificent  sum  of  30  cents  per 
day. 

His  rail-splitting  and  hog-killing  proclivities  did  not  constitute 
all  of  the  qualifications  which  this  young  man  possessed  and 
which  made  him  the  envy  of  his  many  rural  competitors.  He 
could  run  faster,  jump  farther,  strike  harder,  and  could  throw 
down  with  great  ease  any  man  bold  enough  to  question  his 
physical  superiority;  and,  although  at  this  time  his  mental 
strength  did  not  keep  pace  with  his  physical  greatness,  he  could 
read,  write,  and  cipher,  and,  above  all,  he  could  be  relied  upon 
and  was  absolutely  honest,  a  characteristic  which,  like  the 
rugged  mountain  peak,  rises  majestically  above  the  clouds. 


97 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

Young  LINCOLN  gave  up  the  rail-splitting  industry  to  engage 
in  the  grocery  business;  but  having  an  inborn  dislike  for  busi- 
ness precision  and  indoor  confinement  he  speedily  abandoned 
that  avocation  to  engage  in  the  more  agreeable  pastime  of  fight- 
ing Indians.  He  had  himself  elected  captain  of  a  military  com- 
pany in  1832  and  proceeded  to  put  his  company  in  condition  to 
end  the  Black  Hawk  War  forthwith;  and,  although  it  is  not 
recorded  that  he  ever  saw  an  Indian  during  that  engagement,  it 
is  a  matter  of  record  that  his  failure  to  meet  the  enemy  was  no 
fault  of  his. 

Having  political  ambition  and  being  popular  with  his  neigh- 
bors, who  for  the  most  part  were  a  sorry  lot  of  very  poor  people, 
he,  in  1833,  by  such  methods  as  are  perfectly  familiar  to  those 
who  are  in  politics  and  in  the  same  way  now  employed — we 
have  not  improved  much  upon  LINCOLN'S  manner  of  doing  poli- 
tics— ingratiated  himself  into  the  good  graces  of  his  Congress- 
man and  was  appointed  postmaster,  in  which  position  he  famil- 
iarized himself  with  current  happenings  by  reading  to  his  pa- 
trons newspapers,  postal  cards,  and  other  publications  which 
came  into  his  official  hands  for  distribution  and  delivery.  His 
office,  as  can  well  be  imagined,  was  a  meeting  place  for  all  sorts 
of  quaint  characters,  who  came  in  crowds  to  listen  with  admira- 
tion to  the  witty  and  wise  sayings  of  their  foremost  fellow  citi- 
zen. The  official  duties  of  this  governmental  dignitary  were  not 
arduous — in  fact,  it  is  said  that  he  carried  the  mail  in  his  hat, 
and  when  transporting  even  his  heaviest  mail  in  this  way  there 
was  ample  room  for  a  head  destined  in  the  near  future  to  fur- 
nish intelligence  enough  to  rule  with  matchless  splendor  and 
success  the  greatest  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

LINCOLN  at  this  time  had,  of  course,  no  intimation  of  his  ulti- 
mate greatness,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  he  had  ever  dreamed  of 
representing  in  an  official  capacity  a  greater  *  number  of  his 
fellow  citizens  than  were  then  residing  in  the  little  village  over 
which  he  presided  with  great  dignity  as  postmaster.  The  germs 
of  greatness  were  in  him,  however,  and  were  being  slowly 
developed  by  Almighty  God  to  fit  him,  when  the  emergency 
should  come,  to  grapple  with  and  master  the  greatest  and  most 
complicated  national  problem  that  has  ever  fallen  to  the  lot 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

of  man  to  solve.  True,  he  was  ambitious,  and  wisely  seeing  that 
his  manly  character  and  his  native  wit  had  given  to  him  a  place 
of  political  prominence  among  his  fellow  townsmen,  it  was 
perfectly  natural  that  he  should  seek  still  higher  ascendancy  in 
the  political  firmament,  and  having  natural  inclination  to  orate 
he  became  a  candidate  for  the  State  legislature  in  1832  and  took 
the  stump.  It  is  written  down  that  his  speeches  were  calcu- 
lated more  to  amuse  than  edify,  but  with  a  persistency  char- 
acteristic of  all  western  men  of  ambition,  and  remembering  the 
precept  that  "Where  ignorance  is  bliss,  'tis  folly  to  be  wise," 
he  sailed  in  and  told  his  rustic  hearers  all  about  the  affairs  of 
government  and  a  lot  more.  The  following  was  his  maiden 
speech  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature : 

Fellow  citizens,  I  am  humble  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  My  politics  are 
short  and  sweet,  like  the  old  woman's  dance.  I  am  in  favor  of  a  national 
bank,  of  internal  improvements,  and  a  high  protective  tariff.  These 
are  my  sentiments.  If  elected,  I  shall  be  thankful;  if  not,  it  will  be  all 
the  same. 

He  was  defeated,  but  having  taken  on  considerable  knowledge 
by  his  experience  and  the  persistent  reading  of  books,  he  did 
not  complain  or  cuss  his  successful  competitor  for  this  high 
office,  but  like  a  good  American  citizen  he  went  to  work  and 
bided  his  time.  Again  he  tried  the  grocery  business,  and  again 
he  failed.  Somehow  he  seemed  to  be  unfitted  for  the  business 
of  selling  the  products  of  the  soil  Possibly  the  alluring  smile  of 
his  customers  when  they  saw  the  scales  tip  in  their  favor  had 
something  to  do  with  it.  Anyhow  he  failed.  Anybody  else, 
easily  discouraged,  would  have,  after  so  many  adversities,  gone 
back  to  the  rail-splitting  business.  Not  so  with  LINCOLN.  He 
took  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  by  so  doing  he  hoped  to  add 
to  his  political  success,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fit  himself  so 
as  to  render  competent  legal  services  to  some  unfortunate  fellow 
man  after  he  should  have  mastered  the  intricacies  of  human 
jurisprudence.  His  great  aim  in  life  was  to  help  his  brother 
man,  and  to  do  this  he  was  ever  ready  to  give  up  his  life.  While 
studying  law  it  became  necessary  to  keep  body  and  soul  to- 
gether; he  became  an  assistant  surveyor,  and  by  hard  study 
equipped  himself  to  perform  the  services  of  such  an  employee 


99 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

in  six  weeks.  About  this  time  the  sun  began  to  shine  through 
the  dark  clouds  of  despair  which  had  hung  over  him,  and 
LINCOLN  grew  more  optimistic — he  never  was  a  pessimist,  but 
always  seemed  sad.  He  purchased  a  decent  suit  of  clothes,  the 
first  he  had  ever  had,  made  the  acquaintance  of  prominent  men, 
and  profited  by  their  acquaintance. 

In  1834  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  elected  a  new  legis- 
lature, and  LINCOLN  was  one  of  the  successful  candidates.  The 
vState  capital  was  then  located  at  Vandalia,  and  LINCOLN  was 
prominent  in  having  enacted  into  law  a  bill  removing  it  to 
Springfield.  Aside  from  this  bit  of  wise  legislation  nothing  was 
done  in  which  he  played  a  prominent  part  calculated  to  create 
an  impression  that  he  was  soon  to  become  in  fame  second  only 
to  Washington,  but  in  the  succeeding  legislature,  to  which  he 
also  was  elected,  he  and  his  colleague,  Daniel  Stone,  the  two 
members  from  Sangamon  County,  introduced  the  famous  reso- 
lution declaring  that  the  institution  of  slavery  "was  founded  on 
both  injustice  and  bad  policy." 

In  1837  LINCOLN  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  moved  to 
Springfield,  a  village  of  some  1,500  people.  In  1838,  at  the  age 
of  29,  he  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature,  where  he  continued 
assiduously,  by  wise  legislation,  to  better  the  condition  of  the 
people.  He  found  time  to  carry  on  the  practice  of  law  and  was 
reputed  to  be  a  good  lawyer,  although  his  services  as  such, 
being  respectable,  was  not  great. 

LINCOLN  was  a  born  politician.  His  heart  was  in  the  work, 
and  it  was  in  this  prolific  field  that  his  great  achievements  were 
accomplished.  He  did  not  like  the  technicalities  of  the  law,  but 
rather  preferred  to  make  political  speeches,  in  which  particular 
occupation  his  genius  shone  with  great  brilliancy. 

In  1840,  during  the  Harrison  presidential  campaign,  LINCOLN 
stumped  the  State  in  behalf  of  the  Whig  cause,  and  it  was  dur- 
ing this  canvass  that  he  came  in  contact  with  the  great  scholar 
and  political  debater,  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

In  1 843  Mr.  LINCOLN  was  defeated  for  Congress,  to  which  high 
position  he  had  long  aspired.  He  was  more  successful  in  1846, 
however,  when  he  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  in  the 
congressional  contest  and  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  National 


100 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

House  of  Representatives.  As  a  Congressman  LINCOLN'S  record 
was  but  fair.  He  made  some  three  or  four  speeches,  devoted 
more  to  wit  and  humor  than  sound  reasoning,  although  ques- 
tions of  great  moment  were  during  those  days  demanding  the 
attention  of  leading  statesmen. 

Many  biographers  have  given  too  much  time  and  attention  to 
LINCOLN'S  domestic  life,  which  was  all  but  pleasant,  as  is  well 
known  to  everybody.  It  is  the  public  services  of  great  men 
rather  than  their  private  affairs  that  receive  and  merit  the  at- 
tention of  the  public,  and  this  incomparable  man's  public  life  is 
so  filled  with  brilliant  achievements  that  to  deviate  therefrom 
would  avail  nothing  intellectual  and  would  be  doing  that  which, 
to  say  the  least,  would  be  unwise. 

As  I  have  said  before,  LINCOLN'S  ability  as  a  lawyer  did  not 
shine  with  any  particular  brilliancy.  He  did  not  become  famous 
through  his  practice  of  the  law,  as  a  State  representative,  or  as 
a  Congressman,  Neither  could  he  compare  in  eloquence  with 
Douglas,  Clay,  Webster,  or  Calhoun  as  a  public  speaker.  It 
was  his  matchless  moral  character,  the  prominent  part  he 
played  in  a  great  cause,  and  his  marvelous  leadership  that  will 
cause  his  name  to  be  honored  and  revered  throughout  the  ages. 

His  great  political  career  really  began  in  1854,  notwithstand- 
ing he  had  served  two  years  in  Congress,  1847-1849. 

It  was  the  attempt  of  southern  statesmen  to  compel  Congress 
to  extend  slavery  in  the  Territories  that  aroused  the  great  in- 
dignation of  LINCOLN  and  which,  indirectly,  made  him  the  leader 
of  the  opposition  to  the  movement  to  establish  slavery  in  terri- 
tory belonging  to  the  United  States,  an  institution  declared  by 
him  to  be  "founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy." 

Henry  Clay's  great  compromise  bill  succeeded  in  quieting  for 
a  time  the  bitterness  that  was  engendered  by  this  inhuman 
attempt.  It  was  but  the  calm  that  precedes  a  storm,  however, 
and  was  short  lived.  An  attempt  to  pass  the  fugitive-slave 
law  was  regarded  as  a  national  outrage  by  northern  men,  and 
the  protest  that  was  registered  when  man  hunters  seized  trem- 
bling fugitives  and  took  them  back  to  a  life  infinitely  worse  than 
death  was  of  a  nature  to  cause  public  men  to  tremble.  The 
whole  North  became  alive  with  righteous  indignation  at  this 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

barbarous  and  unspeakable  act  of  inhumanity.  Newspapers 
protested,  orators  thundered,  excitement  exceeded  all  bounds. 
More  fuel  to  the  flames  was  added  about  this  time  by  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  a  United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  Illinois, 
by  the  introduction  of  his  famous  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  the 
purpose  of  which  was  to  open  up  the  vast  territory  of  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  to  the  introduction  of  slavery,  providing  that  the 
people  of  these  Territories  should  so  favor.  The  South  needed 
this  territory,  and  Douglas,  who  had  presidential  aspirations, 
was  playing  into  their  hands. 

The  attempt  to  put  the  bill  on  the  statute  book  opened  the 
eyes  even  of  some  Democratic  leaders  of  the  North,  and  a  united 
outcry  of  protestation  from  the  press,  the  platform,  and  the 
pulpit  was  raised  in  one  great  scream  of  wrath,  which  no  doubt 
could  be  distinctly  heard  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  recount  the  many  crimes 
committed  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas  by  armed  ruffians  from 
Missouri,  who  elected  by  fraud  a  legislature  favorable  to  slav- 
ery in  that  Territory.  Nor  will  it  be  necessary  for  me  to  dis- 
cuss the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case. 
You  are  all  familiar  with  these  matters.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
these  triumphs  were  exceedingly  pleasing  to  the  southern  cause, 
and  that  the  question  now  was,  Shall  slavery  advance  into  new 
territory?  The  North  said  "no,"  the  South  said  " yes." 

At  this  stage  of  the  contest  LINCOLN  came  upon  the  scene  and 
his  career  as  a  national  character  began.  He  crossed  swords 
with  Douglas,  reputed  to  be  the  most  powerful  advocate  of 
Democratic  principles  in  the  North.  They  were  both  candidates 
for  the  United  States  Senate — LINCOLN  the  Republican  candi- 
date and  Douglas  the  Democratic  nominee.  The  debates  which 
took  place  between  these  two  giants  became  world  famous. 
LINCOLN,  filled  with  indignation  at  the  wrongs  that  had  been 
perpetrated  upon  humanity,  seemed  to  be  inspired  as  he  com- 
bated the  arguments  of  the  trained  political  debater  Douglas. 
His  battle  cry  was,  "The  Government  can  not  endure  half  slave 
and  half  free,"  and  that  "  a  house  divided  against  itself  could  not 
stand."  He  did  not  go  beyond  the  constitutional  limits,  how- 
ever, but  admitted  that  the  South  had  a  right  to  a  fugitive-slave 


Homestead    of  A  br  ah  am    Lincoln 

law,  but  he  never  missed  an  opportunity  to  let  it  be  known  that 
he  despised  the  institution  of  slavery.  His  speeches  during  this 
contest  attracted  such  universal  attention  that  he  was  invited 
to  speak  in  Eastern  States,  which  he  did  in  such  splendid  style 
as  to  add  increased  glory  to  his  fame  as  an  orator. 

Following  his  contest  with  Douglas,  which  attracted  so  much 
attention  throughout  the  civilized  world,  the  people  of  the  North 
demanded  the  nomination  of  LINCOLN  as  President.  The  Re- 
publican Party  heeded  the  call,  and  in  1860  made  him  its 
standard  bearer.  After  the  election,  which  waged  furiously  in 
all  sections  of  the  country,  LINCOLN  was  elected.  The  North 
had  triumphed  over  the  South.  Cannons  roared,  bells  were 
rung,  .brave  men  cried  with  joy,  and  the  prayers  of  the  oppressed 
ascended  to  high  heaven.  Great  was  the  victory  and  great  was 
LINCOLN. 

The  South  immediately  set  up  the  cry  that  the  election  was 
a  "sectional  and  minority  election,"  and  between  election  day 
and  the  date  when  LINCOLN  was  to  be  sworn  into  office  several 
of  the  Southern  States  seceded  from  the  Union  and  set  up  a 
government  of  their  own  at  Montgomery,  Ala.  They  seized 
Federal  forts,  arsenals,  customhouses,  post  offices,  and  every- 
thing else  they  could  appropriate  which  would  aid  them  in  a  war 
which  was  sure  to  follow. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  was  inaugu- 
rated President  of  the  United  States.  How  I  should  love  to 
have  seen  that  ceremony  and  listened  to  the  words  of  wisdom 
as  they  fell  from  his  lips  during  his  inaugural  address.  What 
a  privilege  it  must  have  been  to  look  into  his  sad  and  pensive 
face  as  he  counseled  his  countrymen  to  remain  cool  during  the 
pending  crisis.  His  whole  address  was  summed  up  in  two  short 
paragraphs : 

The  power  confided  in  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess 
the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Government  and  to  collect 
the  duties  and  imports,  but  beyond  what  may  be  necessary  for  these 
objects  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  use  of  force,  among  the  people 
anywhere. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow  countrymen,  and  not  in  mine, 
is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  Government  will  not  assail 
you.  You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourself  aggressors. 


Homestead    of  Abraham    Lincoln 

The  South  became  the  aggressors  and  inevitable  war  fol- 
lowed. The  trials  and  tribulations  of  the  great  LINCOLN  were 
many  during  these  dark  and  uncertain  days;  but  out  of  his 
tribulations  came  patience,  and  out  of  patience  came  experi- 
ence, and  out  of  experience  came  hope,  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures. His  love  for  man  seemed  to  grow  in  the  very  face  of  the 
fiercest  war  that  has  ever  been  waged.  A  war  between  father 
and  son,  brother  and  brother — a  horrible,  unthinkable  war. 
LINCOLN  well  knew,  however,  that  the  end  justified  the  means, 
and  realized  that  out  of  the  awful  slaughter  of  men  and  loss 
of  treasure  would  come  a  reunited  country  and  lasting  peace; 
and,  far  more  important  than  either  reunion  or  peace,  he  knew 
that  the  shackles  which  bound  in  servitude  a  race  of  people 
would  fall  from  bruised  limbs  and  4,000,000  souls  would  march 
erect  into  the  bright  sunlight  of  sweet  freedom.  Thank  God, 
the  great  emancipator  lived  long  enough  to  witness  this,  his 
crowning  achievement. 

Some  writers  hold  that  LINCOLN'S  death  was  timely,  in  that 
it  prevented  a  possible  political  error  during  the  reconstruction 
period  which  might  have  sullied  in  some  degree  his  illustrious 
services.  I  do  not  believe  it,  and  I  am  sorry  he  did  not  live  to 
know  that  even  the  most  radical  of  southern  sympathizers  now 
rejoice  in  the  delivery  from  bondage  of  a  race  of  human  beings 
into  the  glorious  realm  of  liberty ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  had 
the  fatal  bullet  never  been  fired  from  the  pistol  of  the  assassin, 
Booth,  no  public  act  of  his,  had  he  lived  to  this  good  day,  would 
have  resulted  in  anything  but  good  to  his  fellow  man.  His 
great  foresight  and  his  inborn  love  for  justice  would  have  pre- 
cluded such  a  result.  The  present  universal  admiration  for  his 
matchless  services  frowns  upon  the  very  intimation  of  such  a 
thing.  He  was  too  great,  too  sympathetic,  too  far-seeing,  too 
wise,  and  too  just  to  enter  into  any  arrangement  whereby  any- 
thing but  the  full  measure  of  justice  would  result  to  all. 

Commemoration  of  the  Nation's  heroes  is  not  only  proper, 
but  it  is  wise.  It  fosters  patriotism,  without  which  no  country 
can  be  great. 

LINCOLN'S  life  was  one  of  purest  patriotism;  it  was  devoted 
unselfishly  to  the  promotion  of  the  country's  good.  He  was 
the  friend  of  mankind ;  he  believed  in  manhood ;  he  wanted  too 


104 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lin  coin 

see  this  a  land  of  freedom  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  He 
worked  to  that  end.  He  assumed  a  great  burden  when  he  took 
the  Presidency;  he  met  the  responsibilities  with  courage  and 
a  heart  full  of  charity,  but  he  met  them  and  overcame  every 
difficulty ;  he  conquered  the  foes  of  free  government  and  made 
this  a  Government  of  manhood  suffrage. 

When  this  Government  was  formed  it  was  the  most  gigantic 
experiment  of  the  kind  ever  attempted  by  man ;  it  was  given  no 
place  in  the  political  considerations  of  the  world ;  it  was  thought 
to  be  but  a  passing  illusion.  No  one  believed  the  experiment 
would  succeed;  failure  was  freely  predicted.  A  government 
by  the  people,  it  was  said,  was  impossible.  But  Washington's 
Government  still  lives.  It  has  grown  and  prospered.  It  has 
become  a  great  world  power.  It  thrills  with  potent  life  and 
exalted  hopes.  The  Civil  War  was  the  one  test  needed  to  prove 
the  ability  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves,  and  never  was 
the  Nation  so  full  of  life,  so  filled  with  courage,  so  encouraging  to 
the  friends  of  freedom,  so  menacing  to  the  foes  of  the  Republic 
as  when  the  sun  of  Appomattox  shone  upon  its  banner  and 
revealed  within  its  azure  ground  the  full  galaxy  of  its  stars. 

Through  the  instrumentality  of  the  martyred  LINCOLN  and 
his  patriotic  followers  were  fought  the  battles  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union,  and  we  of  the  present  day  are  enabled  to 
live  in  a  land  where  every  citizen  is  a  sovereign  and  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  is  free  to  worship  God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  his  own  conscience;  a  land  whose  inventions  lead 
the  world,  where  the  printing  press  and  the  church  follow  close 
upon  the  march  of  empire,  where  caste  is  ignored,  where  the 
humblest  child  of  poverty  may  aspire,  unrebuked,  to  the  highest 
place  in  the  gift  of  the  Nation. 

It  is  fitting  that  the  birthplace  of  this  great  man  should  be 
preserved  as  an  evidence  that  lowly  birth  is  no  handicap  to 
greatness.  It  should  be  preserved  as  an  example  to  the  youth 
of  the  land  and  as  an  encouragement  to  emulate  the  life  of 
LINCOLN  and  to  keep  constantly  before  the  minds  of  the  people 
that,  great  though  LINCOLN  was  in  his  maturity,  after  all 
if  he  had  not  been  born  there  could  have  been  no  such  history 
as  is  recorded  through  his  life,  his  sacrifices,  and  his  patriotic 
achievements. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  HARRISON,  OF  MISSISSIPPI 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  consideration  and  discussion  of  this  bill, 
proposing  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  take  over 
and  preserve  the  home  in  Kentucky  in  which  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
was  born,  it  is  not  inappropriate  that  I  place  in  the  Record  a 
letter  that  I  received  in  my  mail  only  a  few  moments  ago  from 
as  gallant  an  array  of  men  and  women  as  ever  lived. 

Not  far  from  the  home  in  which  the  martyred  LINCOLN  was 
born  Jefferson  Davis  was  born. 

Like  LINCOLN,  his  life  was  spent  in  another  State — and  service 
extended  beyond  any  section.  Beauvoir,  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mississippi  Sound,  was  the  last  home  of  Mr.  Davis.  For  the  last 
decade  that  beautiful  place  has  been  transformed  into  a  home 
for  Confederate  veterans.  About  250  of  these  gallant  old  sol- 
diers, although  true  to  the  cause  which  in  the  sixties  they 
espoused,  to-day  are  as  true  to  the  Union  and  as  loyal  to  that 
flag  as  are  the  men  who  in  the  sixties  enlisted  in  the  Federal 
Armies.  The  letter,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  ask  unanimous  consent 
to  place  in  the  Record  has  come  to  me  from  these  old  patriots, 
tendering  their  services  to  the  President  to  go  into  Mexico  as  a 
part  of  the  Armies  of  this  Government,  if  necessary. 


107 


Homestead    o  f  Abr  ah  am    Lincoln 

THE  JEFFERSON  DAVIS  BEAUVOIR  SOLDIERS'  HOME, 

Gulf  port,  Miss.,  March  2j,  1916. 
Mr.  PAT  HARRISON,  M.  C. 

DEAR  SIR:  We  the  undersigned  Confederate  veterans  of  Beauvoir  Sol- 
diers' Home  tender  our  services  to  the  President,  if  needed,  to  join  the 
Army  for  Mexico. 

J.  C.  Granigan,  Dan.  Robertson,  J.  C.  Calhoun,  A.  Adair,  J.  S.  Brown, 
R.  I.  Lanius,  J.  C.  Summers,  S.  O.  Freeman,  J.  T.  Farr,  A.  R.  A. 
Harris,  J.  F.  Mercer,  W.  D.  Cooke,  A.  S.  Furr,  J.  L.  Thomasson, 
G.  F.  Jones,  W.  W.  Gibson,  Sam.  E.  Jones,  C.  W.  Agnew,  J.  W. 
Patterson,  S.  H.  Powell,  T.  J.  N.  Bloodworth,  H.  M.  Wilson, 
C.  M.  Walker,  J.  C.  Bridewell,  W.  M.  Collins,  R.  C.  Clark,  R.  C. 
Le  Cloud,  A.  P.  Sparks,  W.  R.  Jonston,  Capt.  W.  A.  Dill,  W.  F. 
Gainey,  J.  C.  Ainsworth,  E.  A.  Johnson,  Jas.  A.  Locke,  G.  W. 
Barns,  F.  M.  Sharp,  J.  W.  Hunter,  R.  B.  Johnson,  Chas.  Talia- 
ferro,  Thorn.  D.  Reed,  W.  E.  Luse,  J.  C.  McKenzie,  J.  H.  Allen, 
J.  H.  Jennings,  W.  J.  Ray,  A.  G.  Wood,  W.  S.  Hickingbottom, 
J.  G.  Worsham,  J.  H.  Harell,  B.  C.  Covington,  P.  R.  S.  Baily, 
I.  B.  Baldridge,  J.  McDonald,  R.  N.  Robinson,  P.  A.  Cook,  Mrs. 
P.  B.  Kine,  T.  J.  Buckley,  S.  H.  Box,  O.  R.  Mallette,  John 
Noble,  R.  H.  Porter,  O.  S.  Beck,  W.  D.  Franks,  James  Everett, 
J.  A.  Lott,  B.  F.  Sadler,  Dennis  Kane,  James  A.  Cuevas,  S.  W. 
Brister,  W.  J.  Pittman,  G.  F.  Allin,  C.  S.  Smith,  W.  J.  Long, 
C.  A.  Binet,  W.  W.  Robeson,  C.  A.  Breard,  T.  W.  Hughes,  G.  W. 
Hill,  W.  H.  Stevens,  E.  C.  Robinson,  W.  M.  Marshall,  E.  P. 
Hitt,  A.  H.  House,  Georg  W.  Christe,  J.  T.  Gibson,  J.  H. 
Thorn,  T.  J.  Harrell,  S.  J.  Lane,  J.  W.  Dyers,  W.  A.  Wood,  I.  N. 
Webb,  C.  C.  Nelson,  A.  J.  Eastling,  A.  J.  Duren,  J.  D.  Grubbs, 
W.  T.  Hester,  Sol  Happs,  J.  A.  J.  Cagle,  Thomas  E.  Wright, 
G.  J.  Ward.  Total,  100,  and  many  others. 
If  we  are  old,  we  are  good  guns  yet. 

Yours,  respectfully,  J.  C.  G. 


108 


A 


